NEW DELHI: The loss of an Indian Air Force fighter (IAF) jet during Operation Sindoor has been acknowledged by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Anil Chauhan, India's most senior military officer.
The CDS declined to specify the losses in terms of numbers but clearly pointed to the fact that the Indian military carried out high-precision strikes deep inside Pakistani territory that, New Delhi said, forced Islamabad to plead to stop the hostilities.
When asked whether Pakistan had downed an Indian jet or more during the course of Operation Sindoor, Gen. Chauhan told Bloomberg TV on Saturday, on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, “What is important is that, not the jet being down, but why they were being down, what mistakes were made, that are important.”
Gen. Chauhan 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.”
While he stated, “Numbers are not important,” the CDS outrightly denied Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s claims that the Pakistan Air Force had shot down six Indian fighter jets, including four Rafale fighters, during the brief India-Pakistan clash.
The CDS’s remarks mark the Indian military’s first clear acknowledgment of losses during the four-day clashes with the neighbouring country.
However, on May 11, DG of Air Operations Air Marshal AK Bharti, responding to the same question, stated that “losses are a part of combat,” while emphasising that all IAF pilots returned home safely.
Operation Sindoor was a joint mission conducted by the IAF and the Indian Army to wipe out terrorist infrastructures inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Meanwhile, Gen. Chauhan also addressed former US President Donald Trump’s claim that the United States had stopped the two nations from entering a nuclear war, calling it “far-fetched.”
“I personally feel that there is a lot of space between conduct of conventional operations and the nuclear threshold,” he said.
During his talk, the CDS also spoke regarding nuclear threats, stating that he viewed the military as the most rational actor, and asserted that escalation to nuclear conflict in a non-declared war is illogical.
He clarified that the channels of communication with Pakistan “were always open” to help control the situation. He also noted that there were “more sub-ladders which can be exploited for settling out our issues” without the need to resort to nuclear weapons.
General Chauhan delivered a talk on wars and future warfare at the Shangri-La Dialogue. Among various issues, he mentioned that during Operation Sindoor, Pakistan may have leveraged Chinese imagery, while speaking about space and satellite intelligence.
“While we rely on our own satellite resources, Pakistan may have leveraged Chinese or Western commercial imagery. I can't confirm whether real-time targeting data was provided to them, but it's plausible they sought help from their allies,” he said.
The CDS also highlighted the issue of disinformation, noting that 15 per cent of their time during operations was spent countering fake narratives, underlining the need for a dedicated information warfare vertical.
Arguing that India’s approach to narrative control should be based on verified facts and evidence, even if it means a slower public response, he added, “Combating fake news was a constant effort. Our communication strategy was deliberate; we chose to be measured, not reactive because misinformation can quickly distort public perception during high-stakes operations. India has always built its narratives on solid ground, even if we've sometimes been slow to present them.”
