News Brief
Pakistan's Chinese-made JF-17 fighter plane (Representative Image)
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has confirmed that India has downed several of the Pakistani fighter jets.
In a joint press briefing on Sunday (11 May), the Indian Army, Air Force and Navy outlined actions taken under Operation Sindoor to counter a wave of hostile drone and aircraft activity aimed at Indian military infrastructure like important air bases across the western border.
Director General of Air Operations (DGAO) Air Marshal Awadhesh Kumar Bharti confirmed that in a measured and calibrated response, Indian forces targeted Pakistan's military installations, which included surveillance radar sites at Lahore on 8 May, India TV reported.
Air Marshal AK Bharti then detailed the extensive aerial offensive that began from the Pakistani side, stating, "On the night of 8th and 9th, starting as early as 22:30 hours, our cities had a mass raid of drones, UAVs, and UCAVs starting right from Srinagar going right up to Naliya... We were prepared and our air defence preparedness ensured that there was no damage on the ground or to any of the intended targets that the enemy had planned for."
"We further strengthened our deployment and also initiated some pressure points to send a very clear message to the other side to desist any misadventures on land," Lt Gen Ghai added.
On downed enemy aircraft, Air Marshal Bharti confirmed, "As I said, their planes were prevented from coming inside our border. So, we don't have wreckage with us, but definitely, we have downed a few Pakistani planes...I have the numbers and we are getting into technical details to establish it."
He added that the downed planes included "high-tech" jets.