Chief of Defence staff, Anil Chauhan, for the first time responded to a question on whether India lost jets during the recent Operation Sindoor against Pakistan.
Even though he outrightly denied Pakistan’s claims of downing Indian jets as ‘absolutely incorrect’, he acknowledged, “what is important is that, not the jet being down, but why they were being down, what mistakes were made — that are important,” Anil Chauhan, told Bloomberg TV on Saturday, during the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
“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.
Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif reiterated claims on Wednesday that Pakistan Air Force had shot down six Indian fighter jets, including four Rafale fighters, during the brief India-Pak clash.
The Indian Army has denied claims made by western media and Pakistan. On May 11, 2025, Air Marshall AK Bharti acknowledged that “losses are a part of combat” while emphasizing that all IAF pilots returned home safely. Instead, IAF claimed to have shot down several PAF jets, including an F-16 and two JF-17s, during the operation—a claim Pakistan has not confirmed.
Were India-Pak on the brink of nuclear war?
Declining to comment on President Donald Trump’s claim that US stopped the two nations from entering a nuclear war, he said it was ‘far-fetched’ to suggest either side was close to using nuclear weapons.
“I personally feel that there is a lot of space between conduct of conventional operations and the nuclear threshold,” Chauhan said. He clarified that the channels of communication with Pakistan “were always open” to control the situation. He also ascertained that there were “more sub-ladders which can be exploited for settling out our issues” without needing to resort to nuclear weapons.
“We were able to do precision strikes on heavily air-defended airfields of Pakistan deep 300 kilometers inside, with the precision of a meter,” the Indian military chief said.
“We have laid clear red lines,” he Chauhan said, suggesting India’s response will depend on Pakistan’s actions in the future.