IAF lost some jets due to no-strike orders on Pakistan's defences, says official; govt says remarks taken 'out of context'

Time of India

11 hours ago

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'Losses prompted change in tactics'
Govt says comments were 'quoted out of context'
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A senior Indian defence official posted in Indonesia has said that the Indian Air Force (IAF) lost some fighter jets during the May 7 strikes on terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) because the country's political leadership had restricted attacks on Pakistani military targets.The remark, made by Navy Captain Shiv Kumar at a seminar earlier this month, has triggered political controversy and prompted a clarification from the Indian government.Captain Kumar, who holds the rank of colonel and currently serves as India's defence attaché to Indonesia, made the statement during a seminar titled "Analysis of the Pakistan-India Air Battle and Indonesia's Anticipatory Strategies from the Perspective of Air Power" held on June 10.The comment came weeks after Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan acknowledged that the IAF suffered losses during Operation Sindoor , India's large-scale retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack 'I may not agree that we lost so many aircraft, but I do agree we did lose some aircraft and that happened only because of the constraint given by the political leadership to not attack their military establishments and air defences,' Capt Kumar said during the seminar, as reported by ToI.The officer added that the Indian strategy changed after the initial losses.'After the loss, we changed our tactics and we went for the military installations (and radar sites). So, we first achieved suppression of enemy air defences and then that's why all our attacks could easily go through using BrahMos missiles (on May 10),' he said.These remarks are broadly consistent with what CDS Chauhan said at a forum in Singapore on May 31.While he did not disclose the number of jets lost, he confirmed that there had been setbacks in the early phase of the operation and that subsequent Indian strikes focused on suppressing enemy air defences before executing successful precision attacks.'What I can say is that on May 7, in the initial stages, there were losses. Numbers are not important. What was important is why did these losses occur, and what we will do after that,' Gen Chauhan had said.Captain Kumar's remarks, once reported, were quickly picked up by the Congress to criticise the Modi government's approach to Operation Sindoor. Pakistan, for its part, has claimed it shot down six Indian aircraft, including three Rafales—a claim that Gen Chauhan has called 'absolutely incorrect.'In response to the political fallout, the Indian embassy in Jakarta issued a statement defending the officer, saying his remarks had been distorted.'The remarks made by the defence attaché have been quoted out of context and the media reports are a mis-representation of the intention and thrust of the presentation made by the speaker,' the embassy posted on X.It clarified that the presentation aimed to highlight India's model of civilian control over the military and to emphasise that Operation Sindoor was intended to be a calibrated, non-escalatory response focused on terrorist infrastructure.'The presentation conveyed that the Indian armed forces serve under civilian political leadership, unlike some other countries in our neighbourhood. It was also explained that the objective of Operation Sindoor was to target terrorist infrastructure and the Indian response was non-escalatory,' the embassy added.The government has not officially stated how many jets were lost in the cross-border air operations.