‘What is important is not the jet being down, but why they were being down’: CDS Anil Chauhan

In comments viewed by some as an acknowledgement of the Indian Air Force having lost aircraft during Operation Sindoor, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan on Saturday told Bloomberg that what was important was “not the jet being down, but why they were being down”.

“Why they were down, what mistakes were made – that are important,” Chauhan told Bloomberg. “Numbers are not important.”

“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,” the chief of defence staff was quoted as saying.

However, he said that Pakistan’s claims of having shot down six Indian Air Force fighter jets was “absolutely incorrect”.

The claims made by Islamabad have not been independently verified.

Chauhan’s comments came in response to a question about the fighter jets by Bloomberg TV on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue international security policy event in Singapore.

The chief of defence staff told Reuters on Saturday that India had suffered losses in the air in the “initial stages”.

“But the numbers…that’s not important,” he told Reuters. “What was important is, why did these losses occur, and what we’ll do after that.”

He added: “So we rectified tactics and then went back on [May] 7th, 8th and 10th, and 10th in large numbers to hit air bases deep inside Pakistan, penetrated all their air defences with impunity, carried out precision strikes.”

The Indian Air Force “flew all types of aircraft with all types of ordinances on the 10th”, Chauhan said.

At a press conference on May 11, while responding to a reporter’s question about Pakistan’s claims of shooting down Indian aircraft, Air Marshal AK Bharti had said: “We are in a combat scenario. Losses are a part of combat.”

“All our pilots are back home,” he had added.

Bharti said the question that should be asked is if the military had achieved its objectives of decimating terrorist camps. “The answer is yes,” he added.

According to Bharti, the Indian military had “downed a few Pakistani planes”. However, he did not provide an estimate of the number of planes that were shot down.

Tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad escalated on May 7 when the Indian military carried out strikes – codenamed Operation Sindoor – on what it claimed were terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The strikes were in response to the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which killed 26 persons on April 22.

The Pakistan Army retaliated to Indian strikes by repeatedly shelling Indian villages along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. At least 22 Indian civilians and seven defence personnel were killed.

India and Pakistan on May 10 reached an “understanding” to halt firing following the four-day conflict. The cessation of hostilities has largely held.

📰 Crime Today News is proudly sponsored by DRYFRUIT & CO – A Brand by eFabby Global LLC

Design & Developed by Yes Mom Hosting