India confirms loss of fighter jets in recent Pakistan conflict
Defence chief declines to specify how many jets India lost, but calls Pakistan’s claims of downing six Indian warplanes ‘absolutely incorrect’
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.
“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.
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.