Chief of Defence Staff admits to loss of aircraft, says ‘rectified’ tactics to hit deep inside Pak
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
India top general admits aerial ‘losses’ in recent conflict with Pakistan
General Anil Chauhan appears to confirm India lost at least one aircraft during the brief conflict with Pakistan earlier this month. India and Pakistan were engaged in a four-day conflict this month, their worst standoff since 1999, before a ceasefire was agreed on May 10. More than 70 people were killed in missile, drone and artillery fire on both sides, but there are competing claims on the casualties. Chauhan said India switched tactics after suffering losses in the air on the first day of conflict and established a decisive advantage. India has made it clear that it would respond “precisely and decisively should there be any further terror attacks emanating from Pakistan”, he said. He also said that although Pakistan is closely allied with China, there was no sign of any actual help from Beijing during the conflict.
India’s chief of defence staff says the country suffered initial losses in the air during a recent military conflict with neighbouring Pakistan, but declined to give details.
“What was important is, why did these losses occur, and what we will do after that,” General Anil Chauhan told the Reuters news agency on Saturday on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore.
India and Pakistan were engaged in a four-day conflict this month, their worst standoff since 1999, before a ceasefire was agreed on May 10. More than 70 people were killed in missile, drone and artillery fire on both sides, but there are competing claims on the casualties.
India says more than 100 “terrorists” were killed in its “precision strikes” on several “terror camps” across Pakistan, which rejects the claim, saying more than 30 Pakistani civilians were killed in the Indian attacks.
New Delhi, meanwhile, says nearly two dozen civilians were killed on the Indian side, most of them in Indian-administered Kashmir, along the disputed border.
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The fighting between the two nuclear powers was triggered by an attack on tourists in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22 that killed 26 people, almost all of them tourists. New Delhi blamed Pakistan for supporting the armed group behind the attack, an allegation Islamabad denied.
During their conflict, Pakistan had also claimed to have downed at least five Indian military jets, including at least three Rafale fighters. But Chauhan on Saturday dismissed it as “absolutely incorrect”, confirming his country had lost at least one aircraft.
“I think what is important is that, not the jet being down, but why they were being down,” he told Bloomberg TV in a separate interview in Singapore.
On May 11, a day after the ceasefire, India’s Air Marshal AK Bharti told reporters in New Delhi that “all our pilots are back home”, adding that “we are in a combat scenario, and that losses are a part of combat”.
Chauhan said on Saturday India switched tactics after suffering losses in the air on the first day of conflict and established a decisive advantage.
“So we rectified tactics and then went back on the [May] 7th, 8th and 10th in large numbers to hit airbases deep inside Pakistan, penetrated all their air defences with impunity, carried out precision strikes,” he said.
Islamabad has denied it suffered any losses of planes but has acknowledged its airbases suffered some hits, although losses were minimal.
Chauhan said while the fighting had ceased, the Indian government had made it clear that it would respond “precisely and decisively should there be any further terror attacks emanating from Pakistan”.
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“So that has its own dynamics as far [as] the armed forces are concerned. It will require us to be prepared 24/7,” he said.
Chauhan also said that although Pakistan is closely allied with China, which borders India in the north and the northeast, there was no sign of any actual help from Beijing during the conflict.
“While this was unfolding from [April] 22nd onwards, we didn’t find any unusual activity in the operational or tactical depth of our northern borders, and things were generally all right,” he told Reuters.
Asked whether China may have provided any satellite imagery or other real-time intelligence to Pakistan during the conflict, Chauhan said such imagery was commercially available and could have been procured from China as well as other sources.
Lost jets, fixed mistake, hit back hard at Pakistan: CDS Gen Chauhan
India lost fighter jets on the opening day of the recent military confrontation with Pakistan due to tactical mistakes. Chief of defence staff General Anil Chauhan said in media interviews in Singapore on Saturday. He made the comments in response to a question on whether Pakistan downed Indian jets during the May 7-10 military clash. He called Pakistan’s claims of shooting down six Indian fighters “absolutely incorrect” Chauhan also said both Indian and Pakistani forces displayed “rationality in their actions” during the clash. The IAF is poring over the technical details to establish the hits, Air Marshal AK Bharti, director general air operations, said at a media briefing on May 11, a day after the two sides reached an understanding on stopping all military action. He indicated there were combat losses on the Indian side too but the fighter pilots were back home. “We are in a combat scenario; losses are a part of combat. The question you must ask is whether we have achieved our objective of decimating the terrorist camps. The answer is a thumping yes,” he said.
“What is important is not the jet being down, but why they were being downed. What mistakes were made — those are important. Numbers are not important. The good part is that we were able to understand the tactical mistake which we made, remedy it, rectify it, and then implement it again after two days and flew our jets again, targeting at long range,” a Bloomberg report quoted the CDS as saying.
He made the comments in response to a question on whether Pakistan downed Indian jets during the May 7-10 military clash in an interview with Bloomberg TV while attending the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. He called Pakistan’s claims of shooting down six Indian fighters “absolutely incorrect.”
Chauhan said India suffered initial losses in the air in an interview with Reuters too.
“What was important was why did these losses occur, and what we would do after that. So, we rectified tactics and then went back on the 7th, 8th and 10th in large numbers to hit air bases deep inside Pakistan, penetrated all their air defences with impunity, and carried out precision strikes,” he told Reuters.
He did not specify how many jets India lost.
An IAF spokesperson declined to comment on Chauhan’s remarks or the tactical mistakes he referred to. The CDS also said both Indian and Pakistani forces displayed “rationality in their actions” during the clash.
The IAF shot down a few high-tech fighter jets of the Pakistan Air Force during Operation Sindoor — India’s direct military response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror strike in which 26 people were killed.
The IAF is poring over the technical details to establish the hits, Air Marshal AK Bharti, director general air operations, said at a media briefing on May 11, a day after the two sides reached an understanding on stopping all military action. He indicated there were combat losses on the Indian side too but the fighter pilots were back home.
“We are in a combat scenario; losses are a part of combat. The question you must ask is whether we have achieved our objective of decimating the terrorist camps. The answer is a thumping yes. As for the details… what could have been, how many numbers… which platform did we lose… I would not like to comment on that because we are still in a combat situation. If I do, it will only be — advantage adversary,” Bharti said at the time.
Operation Sindoor triggered four days of strikes and counterstrikes with fighter jets, missiles, drones, long-range weapons and heavy artillery. Between the launch of the operation in the early hours of May 7 and the ceasefire on the evening of May 10, Indian forces bombed nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), killing at least 100 terrorists, and the IAF struck targets at 13 Pakistani airbases and military installations.
The IAF “flew all types of aircraft with all types of ordnance on the 10th”, Chauhan said in the Reuters interview. “Most of the strikes were delivered with pinpoint accuracy, some even to a metre, to whatever was our selected mean point of impact.”
The CDS said, in the same interview, that there was enough room for conventional operations below the nuclear threshold, adding that both sides showed “rationality” during the confrontation.
“There’s a lot of space for conventional operations which has been created, and this will be the new norm. It’s my personal view that the most rational people are people in uniform when conflict takes place. During this operation, I found both sides displaying a lot of rationality in their thoughts as well as actions. So why should we assume that in the nuclear domain there will be irrationality on someone else’s part?”
The IAF struck two terror sites at Markaz Subhanallah in Bahawalpur and Markaz Taiba near Muridke, while the army hit targets at seven places including Mehmoona Joya in Sialkot, Sawai Nala and Syed Na Bilal in Muzaffarabad, Gulpur and Abbas in Kotli, Barnala in Bhimber, and Sarjal.
The IAF also struck military targets in Rafiqui, Murid, Chaklala, Rahim Yar Khan, Sukkur, Chunian, Pasrur, Sialkot, Skardu, Sargodha, Jacobabad, Bholari and Malir Cantt in Karachi.
On May 29, the chief of the air staff Air Chief Marshal AP Singh said Operation Sindoor reflected the changing character of warfare. “Every day we see new technologies coming in… Operation Sindoor has again given us a clear idea of where we are headed and what we need in the future. A lot of work needs to be done in realigning our own thought processes, which is already underway.”
‘Absolutely Incorrect’: CDS Chauhan Dismisses Pakistan’s Claim Of Shooting Down 6 Indian Jets
‘Absolutely Incorrect’: CDS Chauhan Dismisses Pakistan’s Claim Of Shooting Down 6 Indian Jets. Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan refuted Pakistan’s claims that it had shot down six Indian fighter jets during the four-day military confrontation post-Operation Sindoor. He said India had rectified “tactical errors” quickly and the focus should be on the lessons learned, not the number of aircraft lost. The CDS concluded that the current ceasefire is holding, but its durability depends on future Pakistani actions. “We have laid clear red lines,” he warned, adding, “I personally feel that there is a lot of space between the conduct of conventional operations and the nuclear threshold,” he said.
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Last Updated: May 31, 2025, 20:14 IST
Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan also reflected on losses, stressing that Indian forces rectified some “tactical mistakes” and came back to hit Pakistan hard.
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Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan refuted Pakistan’s claims that it had shot down six Indian fighter jets during the four-day military confrontation post-Operation Sindoor, adding that India had rectified “tactical errors” quickly and the focus should be on the lessons learned, not the number of aircraft lost.
Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan.
Speaking to Bloomberg TV at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, General Anil Chauhan dismissed Pakistan’s claim that it downed six Indian jets as “absolutely incorrect,” but declined to give specific figures regarding aircraft losses during the conflict that erupted on May 7 — the worst military escalation between India and Pakistan in over 50 years.
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“What is important is not the jet being down, but why they were down. What mistakes were made — that is important. Numbers are not,” he said.
India’s military confirmed for the first time that it lost an unspecified number of fighter jets in clashes with Pakistan in May.Anil Chauhan, chief of defense staff of the Indian Armed Forces, spoke to Bloomberg TV on Saturday, while attending the Shangri-La Dialogue in… pic.twitter.com/9y3GW6WJfn — Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) May 31, 2025
General Anil Chauhan said India had identified and corrected its tactical errors within two days and resumed long-range operations with precision targeting.
“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,” General Chauhan said.
General Anil Chauhan Slams Shehbaz Sharif’s Claims On Indian Jets
General Anil Chauhan also pushed back against Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s assertion that his country had shot down six Indian jets. He criticized the performance of Pakistan’s imported weapon systems, including Chinese-supplied air defenses, saying they “didn’t work.”
He added that India had successfully executed precision strikes deep inside Pakistani territory- up to 300 kilometers- on airfields protected by dense air defenses.
On concerns of nuclear escalation, General Anil Chauhan dismissed suggestions that the conflict came close to triggering a nuclear war. He said, “I personally feel that there is a lot of space between the conduct of conventional operations and the nuclear threshold.” Communication channels with Pakistan, he added, remained open throughout the crisis.
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The CDS concluded that the current ceasefire is holding, but its durability depends on future Pakistani actions.
“We have laid clear red lines,” he warned.
About the Author Mallika Soni When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, “What is the purpose of journalism in society?” When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, “What is the purpose of journalism in society?”
Location : Delhi, India, India
First Published: May 31, 2025, 13:36 IST
Op Sindoor:Hit bases deep inside Pak, penetrated their defences: CDS Gen Anil Chauhan
India decisively asserted its military superiority over Pakistan during this month’s brief but intense conflict. Its aerial strikes penetrating deep into Pakistani territory and delivering pinpoint blows to critical enemy infrastructure such as radar systems, control units, and airbases. India then carried out another series of precision attacks, which saw the destruction of several Pakistani air bases. An understanding on the cessation of hostilities was then reached between the two sides on May 10. Despite targeting sites close to sensitive nuclear installations, there was no indication that either country seriously contemplated the use of nuclear weapons. India demonstrated that large-scale counter-terror operations could be carried out with surgical precision, even against a nuclear-armed adversary, without triggering significant escalation, General Anil Chauhan was quoted as saying in a report by Reuters. He was speaking on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. The report was based on an interview with the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of India.
General Chauhan was speaking on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. In an interview with Reuters, the CDS admitted that the Armed Forces had suffered losses in the initial stages of the operation but then struck with impunity at Pakistan’s bases.
“So what I can say is, on May 7 and the initial stages, there were losses, but the numbers and that’s not important. What was important is why did these losses occur, and what will we do after that? So we rectified the tactics and then went back on seventh, eighth and 10th, and 10th in large numbers, to hit their bases deep inside Pakistan, penetrated all their defences with impunity, with scattered opposition strikes,” Gen Chauhan was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Earlier, on May 11, Director General Air Operations Air Marshal Bharti, when commenting on Aircraft losses, had said, “I can’t comment about loss of Aircraft as we are in a combat scenario and losses are part of combat”.
Meanwhile, speaking to Reuters, General Chauhan dismissed Pakistan’s claims that India ceased aerial operations after May 7, stating that India’s response became more sustained and powerful.
Indian fighter jets, drones, and missiles struck 11 Pakistani air bases on May 10, including one near the Pakistani capital Islamabad, the Nur Khan airbase, when the residents surrounding were able to witness a sort of ‘new dawn’ in the middle of the night, as PM Narendra Modi put forth during his speech following the cessation of hostilities at Adampur airbase.
Satellite imagery, both from Indian sources and global platforms, later confirmed the precision of these strikes as well as how devastating they have been.
“Now that the satellite images for all the strikes that are available, not only through Indian media but from global sources, and you would have seen that most of the strikes were delivered with pinpoint accuracy, some even to a metre, to whatever was our selected mean point of impact, ” Gen Chauhan was quoted as saying by Reuters.
During Operation Sindoor, India demonstrated that large-scale counter-terror operations could be carried out with surgical precision, even against a nuclear-armed adversary, without triggering significant escalation.
“There’s a lot of space before that nuclear threshold is, you know, crossed, a lot of signalling before that. I think nothing like that happened. Over a period of time, as I said in a couple of other meetings that there’s a lot of space for conventional operations, which has been created, and this will be the new norm,” General Chauhan said, according to Reuters.
Despite targeting sites close to sensitive nuclear installations, there was no indication that either country seriously contemplated the use of nuclear weapons. Chauhan emphasised the professionalism and restraint shown by both militaries.
“It’s my personal view again that the most rational people are people in uniform when conflict takes place. That’s because they understand that conflict can swing either way, and they understand the consequences of this kind of conflict. And in every step, which happened during this Operation Sindoor, I found both sides displaying a lot of rationality in their thought as well as actions,” he said.
After India carried out strikes on Terror bases in Pakistan, the Pakistani side responded by attempting to target Defence and civilian installations in India. India then carried out another series of precision attacks, which saw the destruction of several Pakistani air bases. An understanding on the cessation of hostilities was then reached between the two sides on May 10.
Operation Sindoor not only showcased India’s readiness and ability to strike deep and with precision, but also set a new conventional threshold in South Asian conflict dynamics–on India’s terms and at India’s choosing. (ANI)
CDS Refutes Pakistan’s Claim of Downing 6 Indian Jets, Admits ‘Initial Losses’ Were Rectified Before Hitting Back Hard
India News CDS Refutes Pakistan’s Claim of Downing 6 Indian Jets, Admits ‘Initial Losses’ Were Rectified Before Hitting Back Hard. General Anil Chauhan: ‘We rectified tactics and then went back on 7th, 8th and 10th in large numbers to hit airbases deep inside Pakistan’ ‘We’re no longer fighting linear wars; we’re operating across distributed networks, applying force in non-linear ways, where deception is becoming more important than surprise,’ he said. ‘Operation Sindoor’ was launched on May 7 in response to the cross-border terror links to the Pahalgam attack. It had three clear objectives: military, political, and psychological. All three were met, and over 100 terrorists, including high-value targets like Yusuf Azhar, Abdul Malik Rauf, and Mudasir Ahmed, have been successfully eliminated.
Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan (Image: File/PTI)
Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan on Saturday refuted Pakistan’s claims of downing six Indian jets during the military escalations post Operation Sindoor. In an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, CDS Chauhan admitted that India suffered “initial losses” on May 7 but changed its tactics to inflict major damage on Pakistan airbases, which ultimately led to Islamabad reaching out to New Delhi for a ceasefire.
Gen Chauhan said, “What I can say is that on the 7th [May], in the initial stages, there were losses, but numbers, that is not important. What was important is why these losses occur and what we will do after that.”
“We rectified tactics and then went back on 7th, 8th and 10th, and on 10th in large numbers to hit airbases deep inside Pakistan. Penetrated all their air defence with impunity and carried out precision strikes,” he added.
CDS refutes Pak’s claim that 6 Indian jets were downed
On Pakistan’s claims that it downed six IAF jets, he told Bloomberg TV in a separate interview, “Absolutely incorrect.”
When Gen Chauhan was asked “whether or not Pakistan downed an Indian jet”, he said, “What is important is that… not the jet being downed, but why they were being downed.”
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”.
CDS Chauhan further stated that losses were part of any combat situation, but “all our pilots are back home”.
He also clarified that the face-off did not come close to a point of nuclear conflagration. “I think there’s a lot of space before that nuclear threshold is crossed, a lot of signalling before that, I think nothing like that happened,” Gen Chauhan said.
“During this operation, I found both sides displaying a lot of rationality in their thoughts as well as actions. So why should we assume that in the nuclear domain there will be irrationality on someone else’s part?” he asked.
‘Armed Forces spent 15% efforts to combat misinformation’: CDS
Prior to this, at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, CDS Anil Chauhan had shed light on Operation Sindoor, emphasising how it marks a shift in the nature of warfare. He highlighted that modern conflicts are no longer defined solely by physical combat but increasingly rely on advanced technology, cyber capabilities and control over information.
A notable portion of the operation was dedicated to countering misinformation, he revealed. General Chauhan shared that approximately 15% of the armed forces’ efforts were spent addressing fake news and misleading narratives.
“We’re no longer fighting linear wars; we’re operating across distributed networks, applying force in non-linear ways, where deception is becoming more important than surprise,” he said.
‘Operation Sindoor’
‘Operation Sindoor’ was launched on May 7 in response to the cross-border terror links to the Pahalgam attack. It had three clear objectives: military, political, and psychological. All three were met, and over 100 terrorists, including high-value targets like Yusuf Azhar, Abdul Malik Rauf, and Mudasir Ahmed, have been successfully eliminated in the operation without a single civilian being harmed. The strikes reportedly involved the use of SCALP cruise missiles, laser-guided bombs, and armed UAVs, demonstrating the jointness and technological edge of India’s armed forces.
India has now initiated a diplomatic global outreach to 33 countries to combat misinformation and nail Pakistan’s role as a terror sponsor.