India has officially confirmed for the first time that it lost fighter jets in the recent four-day conflict with Pakistan, though it has not specified the number.
General Anil Chauhan, India’s Chief of Defense Staff, made the disclosure in a Bloomberg TV interview while attending the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore—representing the most forthright acknowledgment so far of the military’s aerial losses.
Addressing the issue, Chauhan stated, “The important thing isn’t that jets were downed, but why they were.” Although he refuted Pakistan’s claim of shooting down six Indian jets, calling it “absolutely incorrect,” he withheld the actual number of Indian losses.