New Delhi: At least five fighter jets and one large aircraft of the Pakistani air force were shot down during Operation Sindoor, said Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Air Chief Marshal AP Singh on Saturday. He made the remarks while speaking at the Air Marshal Katre Annual Lecture in Bengaluru.
During the event, the IAF chief said some of the parked F-16 fighter jets of the Pakistani air force at Shahbaz Jacobabad airfield were also destroyed. Besides, two command and control centres, like Murid and Chaklala, were also damaged during Operation Sindoor.
Among the five confirmed kills, one was a large aircraft, which could be an ELINT aircraft or an AEW&C aircraft, which was shot down from a distance of about 300 kilometres, he said, adding that this was the “largest ever recorded surface-to-air kill”.
He also hailed the S-400 air defence system and said it did a “wonderful job” during Operation Sindoor. Calling the S-400s a “game-changer”, he said, “The range of that system has really kept their aircraft away from their weapons like, those long-range glide bombs that they have, they have not been able to use any one of those because they have not been able to penetrate the system.”‘
The IAF chief also showed before and after images of the attack on Muridke-Lashkar-e-Taiba headquarters during Operation Sindoor. “Not only did we have satellite pictures, but also from local media, through which we could get inside pictures,” he said.
Air Chief Marshal AP Singh also lauded India’s political leadership and said it was a key reason for the country’s success during Operation Sindoor. Noting that the Indian forces received clear directions and no restrictions were put on them, he said there was complete synchronisation between the three services.
“The post of CDS made a real difference. He was there to get us together. The NSA also played a big role in getting all the agencies,” he said.
“If there were any constraints, they were self-made… We decided how much to escalate… We had full freedom to plan and execute. Our attacks were calibrated because we wanted to be mature about it,” he added.
He said the Indian forces clearly had an upper hand over Pakistan, and they were able to do a lot of damage in just 80-90 hours. “It was clear to them that if they continue, they are going to pay for it more and more. So they came forward and sent a message to our DGMO that they wanted to talk. This was accepted on our side,” he noted.
