Ater CDS, India’s Defence Attaché to Indonesia, Captain (Indian Navy) Shiv Kumar, has stated that the Indian Air Force (IAF) lost fighter jets to Pakistan on the night of May 7, 2025, during Operation Sindoor — and that this happened “only because of the constraint given by the political leadership to not attack the military establishment or their air defenses.”
The comment was made during a seminar held on June 10 at Universitas Dirgantara Marsekal Suryadarma in Indonesia, where Captain Kumar was addressing air power strategies in the context of the India–Pakistan conflict.
This is the second senior military confirmation of aircraft losses during the initial phase of Operation Sindoor. Earlier, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, while speaking to Bloomberg TV on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, had offered the first official admission, stating that the focus should be not on the number of jets lost, but on the reasons behind the losses.
Prior to this, the only public acknowledgment had come in vague terms. During a May 8 briefing, Air Marshal Awadhesh Kumar Bharti, Director General of Air Operations, had remarked: “We are in a combat situation and losses are a part of combat,” without detailing the extent or cause of the losses.
The political fallout of these admissions is escalating. Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera issued a scathing statement, accusing the Modi government of deliberately concealing the truth.
“The Modi government has misled the nation from the start — failing to disclose the aircraft losses during Operation Sindoor,” Khera said. “There were only oblique references to the losses. Then came the CDS admission. And now, in another shocking revelation by Capt. Shiv Kumar, it has emerged that the Indian Air Force lost fighter jets to Pakistan only because of the constraint given by the political leadership.”
Calling the situation a “direct indictment” of the Modi government and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in particular, Khera added, “No wonder they are ducking our demand for a Special Session of Parliament like the plague. They know they’ve compromised national security, and they’re terrified of what the Congress Party will expose before the people of India.”
Military officials have since clarified that the rules of engagement during the initial May 7 strikes prevented the IAF from targeting Pakistani military installations or air defence systems. These constraints, intended to prevent escalation, left Indian jets vulnerable. After the losses, India revised its strategy and began targeting key military sites using long-range BrahMos missiles on May 10.