India Downed Five Pakistani F-16 and JF-17 Jets In Operation Sindoor Conflict: IAF Chief

Indian Air Force (IAF) Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh announced on Friday (3 October) that India shot down five Pakistani fighter jets, including US-made F-16s and Chinese JF-17s, during Operation Sindoor in May.

The operation was launched in response to the Pahalgam terror attack on 22 April, in which Pakistan-backed terrorists brutally killed 26 innocent people, mostly tourists.

Speaking at a press conference on 93rd Air Force Day, Singh also rubbished Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif's claims about Indian jets being destroyed, labelling them Pak Army propaganda to mislead Pakistani citizens.

"In Operation Sindoor, you saw the terrorists paid the price for killing innocent people... and the world saw we achieved our goal. We struck targets across 300 km, then they (Pakistan) asked for the ceasefire," he said.

He also praised the country's air defence systems for successfully repelling or shooting down Pakistani missiles or drones during the nearly 100-hour conflict.

“As far as Pakistan's losses are concerned...we have struck a large number of their airfields and we struck a large number of installations...Because of these strikes, radars at least four places, command and control centres at two places, runways of course damaged at two places, then three of their hangars in three different stations have been damaged," Singh was quoted as saying by Times of India.

"We have signs of one C-130 class of aircraft...and at least 4 to 5 fighter aircraft, most likely F-16, because that place happened to be F-16 with whatever was under maintenance at that time. Along with that, one SAM system has been destroyed...We have clear evidence of one long-range strike, which I talked about more than 300 km, which happened to be either an AEW&C or a significant aircraft, along with that five high-tech fighters between F-16 and JF 17 class this is what our system tells us,” he added.

Singh affirmed that Pakistan requested the ceasefire on 10 May, contradicting US President Donald Trump's repeated claims of intervening via trade pressures.

Connecting to future preparedness, Singh warned, "The next war will be different from the previous one. We must be prepared now and for the future as well. "

This echoed Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's remarks last month on modern conflicts relying on cyber warfare, AI, UAVs, and precision weapons rather than sheer numbers.

Please click here to add Swarajya as your preferred and trusted news source on Google

Also Read: ‘War Shouldn’t Feed Egos’: IAF Chief Explains Why India Ended Operation Sindoor Conflict Early