IAF lost ‘some' jets in Op Sindoor over political constraint to not hit military—Indian Defence Attaché
Responding to a previous presenter who referenced Pakistan's claim of having downed six aircraft, including three Rafales, during Operation Sindoor, Capt. Kumar of the Indian Navy said, 'I may not agree with him that India lost so many aircraft. But, I do agree that we did lose some aircraft and that happened only because of the constraint given by the political leadership to not attack the military establishments and their air defences.'
New Delhi: India's Defence Attaché to Indonesia Captain Shiv Kumar has said that the Indian Air Force (IAF) lost 'some' fighter jets to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor in the early hours of 7 May due to political constraints that limited military targeting to terror camps alone.
In his presentation, Capt. Kumar described India's cross-border strikes on 7 May, targeting nine terror training camps across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), as an act of 'political signalling.'
He stated that the 'only constraint the government gave to the armed forces was not to target anything but the terror camps, no military installations.' 'There was an issue of SEAD and DEAD [Suppression and Destruction of Enemy Air Defences] which was not taken earlier because of the constraints given by the political leadership.'
Capt. Kumar went on to add that the tactics were changed after the loss. '…and we went for their military installations, before which we carried out SEAD followed by surface-to-air missiles and surface-to-surface missiles like BrahMos,' he said.
He identified SEAD and DEAD as a key operational takeaway from Operation Sindoor.
The government had made it clear that India's Operation Sindoor targeted only terror camps and was not targeted at the military. This was so because, had India taken out military radars and surface to air missile systems, it would have been seen as an act of war by the world at large. India has been very clear that Pakistan started the escalation ladder and that the Indian military responded with more force each time they did.
The defence attaché also touched upon India's nuclear posture, reiterating that India follows a no first use (NFU) policy but maintains credible nuclear deterrence across land, air, sea, and undersea platforms. 'Pakistan has a nuclear first use policy, but if it ever attacks India, it won't exist,' he said.
He added that following India's strikes targeting airbases, Pakistan called for a ceasefire on 10 May. Capt. Kumar clarified that India has not agreed to a formal ceasefire, but rather a 'temporary cessation of hostilities.'
As earlier reported by ThePrint, Pakistan, which 'brusquely turned down' the request of Indian Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt. Gen. Rajiv Ghai on 7 May 'with an intimation that a severe response was inevitable and, in the offing,' was desperately reaching out to him on 10 May to ensure a ceasefire.
Last month, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan, during the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, had acknowledged IAF losses but dismissed Pakistan's claims of downing six Indian jets, including Rafales, as 'absolutely incorrect.'
In a separate interview with Reuters the same day, Gen Chauhan added, 'We rectified tactics and then went back on 7th, 8th and 10th, and on the 10th in large numbers to hit airbases deep inside Pakistan. [We] penetrated all their air defences with impunity and carried out precision strikes.'
At a seminar in Pune on 3 June, the CDS, referring to the loss of fighters during Op Sindoor, said that professional militaries are not deterred by losses and that operational objectives remain paramount.
Also Read: 'Hydraulic snag' keeps UK's F-35 grounded in Kerala, puts spotlight on stealth jet's track record
Oppn calls it a cover-up, demands answers
On Sunday, opposition leaders seized on the statements made by the CDS and Capt. Kumar, alleging a cover-up of the scale of Indian losses during the operation.
Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh said on 'X', 'First the Chief of Defence Staff makes important revelations in Singapore. Then a senior defence official follows up from Indonesia. But why is the PM refusing to preside over an all-party meeting and take the Opposition into confidence? Why has the demand for a special session of Parliament been rejected?'
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera also joined in to criticise the government's handling of information related to Operation Sindoor on 'X'.
'…It was left to Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan to make the first official admission of our attrition in the air while speaking to Bloomberg TV… and now, in another shocking revelation by Capt. Shiv Kumar, it has emerged that the Indian Air Force lost fighter jets to Pakistan on the night of May 7, 2025 during its targeting of Pakistan's terror-linked sites only because of the constraint given by the political leadership… No wonder they are ducking our demand for a Special Session of Parliament,' he said.
Later in the day, the Indian embassy in Indonesia issued a statement on 'X', pushing back against how Capt. Shiv Kumar's remarks were being misunderstood. 'We have seen media reports regarding a presentation made by the Defence Attaché at a seminar,' the embassy said.
'His remarks have been quoted out of context, and the media reports are a misrepresentation of the intention and thrust of the presentation made by the speaker,' it added.
The embassy clarified that the presentation had highlighted how 'the Indian Armed Forces serve under civilian political leadership unlike some other countries in our neighbourhood,' and that it had emphasised the objective of Operation Sindoor was to target terrorist infrastructure in a 'non-escalatory' manner.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: What are US 'bunker buster' bombs & stealth bombers than can strike Iran's nuclear mountain
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Deccan Herald
21 minutes ago
- Deccan Herald
The rhetoric and real costs of trade wars
India misread the tariffs brought on by the United States and, at a broader level, the Trump administration. We were one of the first to approach the US on this matter, and we continued to believe that we would have a favourable deal till recently, given what we felt was a great rapport between Modi and Trump. Mainstream electronic media houses were complicit in driving this narrative. To understand why India got it wrong, it would be useful to connect two disparate data dots. Top that with India's misreading of Trump's desire to be seen as a look at the first irritant and its impact. India exports roughly $90 billion, paying approximately 2 per cent tariffs currently, and imports roughly $45 billion at 12 per cent tariffs. The trade deficit of $45 billion carries a tariff differential of $5 billion per year in India's favour after adjusting for exempted products. We should have seen this imbalance in America's trade deficit and tariffs long ago and proactively addressed this. Modi is now overhauling the tax rates in a bid to boost the economy. This is expected to cost $20 billion, four times the tariff differential India was enjoying. .The other irritant is oil imports. In 2021/22, India imported roughly 2.5 million barrels of oil every day. Under the tacit approval of the West, India's imports from Russia grew from 2 per cent then to 40 per cent today. India buys 45 per cent of the exported oil from Russia, a growth of 1900 per cent from pre-war levels. China buys the same percentage, a growth of 50 per cent from pre-war levels. So why did India need this extra oil suddenly? It was because we processed this extra oil and sold it for a profit overseas. Therefore, the rhetoric is misplaced, as we are profiting and fuelling the Russian war machine. Predicting the flow of events, we should have scaled down our offtake back to the 2022 levels and with that, justify our need to fuel the Indian economy and keep inflationary tendencies in check. We have now started to do this, drawing a balance between the US and predict that the impact of tariffs at 25 per cent is likely to be in the region of $11-12 billion per annum on tariffed goods and about 0.25 per cent on GDP. In the earliest days of cranking up our imports of oil, the difference was around $30 a barrel, leading to a gain of $16 billion. That has now come down to around $5 a barrel after accounting for logistics, etc. The benefit we get is estimated today to be only $3.5 billion, a delta of $8.5 billion from what we lose out on with the long commentators have suggested many responses, ranging from the knee-jerk to keeping the long-term in mind. The real issue is what we do now. There is no pattern in the madness. Why have the four treatments of the BRIC countries been different? Because there is a different playbook with each one. With Brazil, the US has a trade surplus. Why then, do they have tariffs of 50 per cent, which is higher than China and equal to India? Bolsonaro? With China, 150 per cent was brought down to 30 per cent; here, it is about the rare earths. For the quantities required, the ecosystem is expensive, and the returns don't work out for a commercial operation. The CCP subsidised this for leverage and their long-term plans to pursue electric mobility and clean energy. This leverage on supplies was used to resolve the $650 billion of trade at stake between the US and China. .India made public its hypocritical treatment at the hands of the US, as it bought palladium, uranium, etc. from Russia. However, the reality is that US imports from Russia were at best $3 billion, down some 45 per cent from the previous year. India's imports from Russia stood at $70 billion, almost twice what it imports from the must now not get caught in the whirlpool of its rhetoric. And it certainly must not seek to appease China and Russia in a hurry and on the rebound. One can expect that this is short-term. There are many moving parts – Russia and Ukraine could arrive at a truce as early as next month. India has already started to demonstrate it is willing to reduce its import of Russian oil while not displeasing Russia. The midterms in the US could go against Trump, and the US courts could reverse Trump's executive decisions. Importantly, Trump does not define the long-standing US relationship with India. Trump himself may not have a long-term view on this the US, it seems clear. The average tariff on its imports has seen inflows of $28 billion, three times post these levies were collected in June. This aggregates to $350 billion. Add to this DOGE cuts and some others, and we have $500 billion being saved or added to the US treasury. This pays half its annual interest cost of $1 trillion, which, if left alone, is not sustainable. This is good for no one, as it is the world's biggest market by the short term, one sees no harm in subtly managing the relationships and dynamics at play and being practical. In the long term, anyway, as economist John Maynard Keynes said, we are all dead..(The writer is the former managing director of a Tata Company and now runs a Bengaluru-headquartered corporate finance practice)
India Today
27 minutes ago
- India Today
Should India play cricket with Pakistan? Here's what survey reveals
In this edition of Political Stock Exchange, the focus is on India's decision to play Pakistan in the upcoming Asia Cup scheduled for September 14th. All this after the Pahalgam terror attack, after Operation Sindoor, after the valour and the might of our armed forces, after India defining a new normal with Pakistan. So should India play cricket with Pakistan? Should India's bat answer Pakistan's bullets or should India pick national pride over sporting spirit? Does the resumption of cricket with Pakistan insult the sacrifices of the armed forces? These were some of the questions posed to respondents in the C-Voter survey. So watch to find out what the survey revealed.
Economic Times
37 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Loves sports, not political games: PM Modi felicitates NDA VP pick Radhakrishnan
New Delhi: NDA's vice-presidential candidate CP Radhakrishnan was formally introduced at the ruling alliance MPs' meeting and was lauded by prime minister Narendra Modi for his simple lifestyle and dedication to public service. The PM is learnt to have said that although Radhakrishnan is a keen sportsperson, he "does not play games in politics".Addressing an NDA parliamentary party meeting where Radhakrishnan was felicitated, Modi recalled his almost four-decade-long association with the former Tamil Nadu BJP chief, who was an RSS functionary like him before moving to the Jana Sangh and then the BJP. He said they have known each other from the time "they sported black hair" and praised his work in different comments reminded some MPs of Jagdeep Dhankhar, whose sudden resignation as vice president on July 21 threw up speculation that his ties with the ruling party might have gone sour, forcing him to quit the post. PM Modi also slammed the Congress over the Indus Waters Treaty, put in abeyance by his government, saying Jawaharlal Nehru compromised India's interest to "burnish his image" and gave his nod to the agreement without taking his Cabinet or Parliament into confidence, sources said. Amid criticism, Nehru later lamented that for a few "buckets" of water so much hue and cry was being raised, Modi said. He said the first PM had also played down China's capture of Indian territory in Ladakh by claiming that not a blade of grass grows there. Modi told MPs to send this message of alleged betrayal of India's interests by the first prime minister to the common people and how his government has decided to undo the agreement's adverse impact on the country, especially on farmers. He said Nehru allowed over 80% of the river's water to be used by Pakistan, betraying the interests of Indian also took up the S&P Global Ratings' recent decision to upgrade India's long-term sovereign credit rating, saying it highlights the country's sound economy and was confident that it would draw more noted that he was told that after his Independence Day speech, in which he had announced next-generation reforms and simplification of GST rates, the stock market would welcome the decision. Infact, the Sensex rallied for two consecutive confident of the economic outlook amid strained ties with the US, which has slapped a 50% tariff on India, Modi noted that the Delhi international airport has been ranked among the busiest airports in the world and India's forex reserves remain Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said Radhakrishnan (67) has led a simple life away from any controversy. With the BJP-led NDA enjoying a comfortable majority in the electoral college comprising MPs from the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Radhakrishnan's win is a certainty. He is likely to file his nomination on Wednesday.
