India confirms loss of fighter jets in recent Pakistan conflict
India's military confirmed for the first time that it lost an unspecified number of fighter jets in clashes with Pakistan in May, while saying the four-day conflict never came close to the point of nuclear war.
Advertisement
'What is important is that, not the jet being down, but why they were being down,' Anil Chauhan, chief of defence staff of the Indian Armed Forces, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Saturday, while attending the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
He called Pakistan's claims that it shot down six Indian warplanes 'absolutely incorrect', but declined to specify how many jets India lost.
'Why they were down, what mistakes were made – that are important,' Chauhan said when asked about the fighter jets. 'Numbers are not important,' he added.
'The good part is that we are able to understand the tactical mistake which we made, remedy it, rectify it, and then implement it again after two days and flew all our jets again, targeting at long range,' Chauhan said.
Indian army soldiers keep vigil near The Line of Control between Pakistan and India, in the Poonch sector of India's Jammu region, on May 20. Photo: AFP
The comments are the most direct yet from an Indian government or military official on the fate of the country's fighter jets during the conflict with Pakistan that erupted on May 7.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
16 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
India arrests 81 for ‘sympathising' with Pakistan amid Kashmir conflict aftermath
Indian police have arrested scores of people for 'sympathising' with Pakistan , a month after the worst conflict between the arch-rivals for decades, a top government official said on Sunday. Advertisement The arrests took place in the northeastern state of Assam, where Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said '81 anti-nationals are now behind bars for sympathising with Pak'. Sarma, from Prime Minister Narendra Modi 's Hindu nationalist ruling party, said in a statement, 'our systems are constantly tracking antinational posts on social media and taking actions'. One of the persons was arrested after he posted a Pakistani flag on his Instagram, Assam police said. No further details about other arrests were given. Advertisement There has been a wider clampdown on social media since an April 22 attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir , the deadliest on civilians in the contested Muslim-majority territory in decades. New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing the Islamist militants it said carried out the attack, charges that Pakistan denied.
South China Morning Post
20 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
China keeps a low profile at Shangri-La Dialogue. What does that mean?
It is customary for Chinese military delegations to push back against American messaging at the Shangri-La Dialogue , Asia's largest security summit. But this year's response was different: the rebuttal was not led by China's defence minister, but the country's military academic institutions. Advertisement Beijing's low-key attendance at the three-day forum in Singapore, which wrapped up on Sunday, was marked by the absence of the defence minister and the cancellation of a plenary session on China's security, which led to speculation and a few surprises. The absence of Defence Minister Dong Jun , who attended last year, also meant there were no bilateral talks between China and other countries, including the US, at a time when Beijing has been confronted with concerns about its military prowess. A US defence official confirmed to the Post on Friday that the two sides had not arranged bilateral meetings during the forum. Dong's absence was also a disappointment for other countries that had sought to hold talks on the sidelines of the forum, according to military officials from two countries who requested to remain anonymous. Advertisement One of the military officials said, 'The Chinese delegation told us they were not conducting bilateral engagements during the dialogue.'
South China Morning Post
20 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Meet India's answer to Pakistan's Chinese jets: the AMCA fifth-generation stealth fighter
For decades, India 's most advanced fighter jets have borne the stamp of foreign origin. But the country's quest for military self-reliance took a leap forward last week with the long-awaited go-ahead for its own stealth fighter jet. The Indian government's green light for the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) is being lauded by analysts as a watershed moment for national security, as the country confronts mounting military pressures from both Pakistan and China New Delhi's Defence Ministry announced on Tuesday that it had approved the 'execution model' for the AMCA – a fifth-generation fighter jet project aimed at enhancing the Indian Air Force's deep-strike capabilities – paving the way for prototype development and eventual production. 'This is an important step towards harnessing the indigenous expertise, capability and capacity to develop the AMCA prototype, which will be a major milestone towards Aatmanirbharta (a self-reliant India) in the aerospace sector,' the defence ministry said in a statement, referring to the government's flagship initiative to boost domestic manufacturing and reduce reliance on imports. The AMCA project is now entering a pivotal, action-oriented phase of development, said Antoine Levesques, senior fellow for South and Central Asian defence, strategy and diplomacy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. A full-scale model of the AMCA aircraft is displayed at the Aero India 2025 air show at Yelahanka Air Force Station in Bengaluru on February 14. Photo: AFP The approval of an execution model for the fighter 'is a golden opportunity for India to create a new defence industrial template for both its established public and insurgent private industry to work sustainably on a far more equal and efficient footing than any of India's previous large-ticket, multi-decade defence industry projects,' Levesques told This Week in Asia.
