Did CDS Gen Anil Chauhan admit to India losing fighter jets during conflict with Pakistan?

Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, on Saturday, admitted that India suffered losses of its fighter aircraft during the military conflict with Pakistan but dismissed as "absolutely incorrect" Islamabad's claim of downing six Indian jets.

 

In an interview to Bloomberg TV, Gen Chauhan asserted it is more important to find out why the aircraft were lost so that the Indian military could improve tactics and hit back again.

 

“What is important is that, not the jet being down, but why they were being down.” “Numbers are not important,” he added.

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Gen Chauhan was asked whether India lost combat jets during the four-day military clashes with Pakistan earlier this month.

 

"The good part is that we were able to understand the tactical mistakes which we made; remedied, rectified and then implemented it again after two days. We flew all our jets again targeting at long range," he said. 

 

“Pakistan’s claim of India having lost six fighter jets is absolutely wrong,” he said when asked about Pakistan's claims that it downed six fighter jets of India.

 

"What was important is, why did these losses occur, and what we will do after that," he told news agency Reuters, adding, "So we rectified tactics and then went back on the 7th, 8th and 10th in large numbers to hit air bases deep inside Pakistan, penetrated all their air defences with impunity, carried out precision strikes. The Indian air force flew all types of aircraft with all types of ordinances on the 10th."

 

Earlier, during a media briefing, Indian Air Force's Director General of Air Operations, Air Marshall AK Bharti, too had acknowledged that losses are a part of combat and said all IAF pilots returned home safely. 

Defence