India's military confirms it lost an unspecified number of fighter jets in clashes with Pakistan in May, but disputes Pakistan's claim of shooting down six Indian warplanes.
Indian Chief of Defense Staff Anil Chauhan says the conflict never came close to nuclear war, and that channels of communication with Pakistan were always open to control the situation.
Chauhan downplays Pakistan's claims about the effectiveness of its weaponry, saying India was able to conduct precision strikes on heavily air-defended airfields in Pakistan.
India’s military confirmed for the first time that it lost an unspecified number of fighter jets in clashes with Pakistan in May, while saying the four-day conflict never came close to the point of nuclear war.
“What is important is that, not the jet being down, but why they were being down,” Anil Chauhan, chief of defense staff of the Indian Armed Forces, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Saturday, while attending the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
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He called Pakistan’s claims that it shot down six Indian warplanes “absolutely incorrect,” though declined to specify how many jets India lost.
“Why they were down, what mistakes were made — that are important,” Chauhan said when asked about the fighter jets. “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.
The comments are the most direct yet from an Indian government or military official on the fate of the country’s fighter jets during the conflict with Pakistan that erupted on May 7.
Earlier this month, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said his country shot down six Indian fighter jets, an assertion that hasn’t been independently verified. India’s government had earlier refrained from commenting on whether it lost aircraft in the fighting.
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The clash was the worst between the nuclear-armed neighbors in half a century, with both sides trading air, drone and missile strikes, as well as artillery and small arms fire along their shared border. It was triggered by a gruesome attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir on April 22, which saw gunmen kill 26 civilians in what India called an act of terrorism orchestrated by Pakistan. Leaders in Islamabad denied involvement.
@bloomberg.com