The Indian Air Force (IAF) chief, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, on Friday said that the armed forces’ surface-to-air missile systems destroyed five Pakistani fighter jets and another aircraft designed for airborne surveillance during Operation Sindoor, India’s retaliatory action following the April 22 Pahalgam attacks. Speaking at the Air Chief Marshal LM Katre Lecture in Bengaluru, Singh revealed that US-made F-16 jets parked at the Jacobabad airbase were among those destroyed when India struck Pakistan’s military installations on May 10. He also confirmed that several Pakistani airbases, including Jacobabad, suffered extensive damage in the strikes.
"We have at least five fighters confirmed kills and one large aircraft, which could be either an ELINT aircraft or an AEW&C (Airborne Warning and Control System) aircraft, which was taken on at a distance of about 300 kilometres. This is actually the largest ever recorded surface-to-air kill that we can talk about," he said.
This marks the first public acknowledgment by the armed forces of the scale of damage inflicted on Pakistan’s air fleet during the operation.
00:07A big disclosure has been made by the Indian Air Force Chief, Amarpreet Singh.
00:12The Indian Air Force Chief has said five Pakistani jets were drowned by the Indian Air Force during Operation Sindhu.
00:20Let's listen in to what the Air Chief Marshal said.
00:22I think our, you know, some industry also.
00:27Of course, this is a good way, good platform for our startups to start from.
00:32But they should only use it as a stepping stone.
00:35They can't expect that, you know, just drones and everything else will just disappear or fade away.
00:48Indigenization I've already touched upon.
00:49So, I think indigenization is mandatory.
00:54We can't wish away.
00:56We have to make sure that we have in-house capability and capacity.
01:02I think capacity is very much important.
01:05We can't be storing things for, you know, we can't predict how long the war is going to last.
01:12If we store items, they don't, they have life.
01:16We can't be just, you know, storing and then throwing them away.
01:19So, we have to have a very healthy mix of keeping certain items, you know, available for immediate response
01:26and manufacturing capability, building up, ramping up within that period to a stage where they can support our effort.
01:34So, that is something which has to happen, for which everybody, all of us have to come together.
01:41I think I have spoken enough about it.
01:43So, I will not delve more into this topic.
01:48I thought, since I have some 10 minutes more, so, and I have a mix of, you know, a crowd here.
02:00A lot of people in uniform, a lot of people who are veterans.
02:04And, of course, there are some people from HAL and other people.
02:08So, I will cover certain points, you know, which, you know, we, one point which is meant for, actually, veterans.
02:19It's, it's come to my, you know, I have realized that whenever, whenever somebody writes something about another service,
02:28that other service gets senty about it.
02:33And, same thing is my own, you know, my own seniors message me.
02:38Look, what has he written?
02:40I told you they will say like this.
02:42You know, that kind of thing starts.
02:44So, I, I personally feel, we, we've always been talking about domain specialization.
02:50A4 has been the, you know, it's been out, always been our call.
02:56Even when we talked about Theater Command Channel, we said domain specialization should remain.
03:01So, I feel as veterans also, let's write about our own domain.
03:05I hope.
03:06Joining me on the broadcast, my colleague Shivani Sharma.
03:09Shivani, the opposition, especially the Congress party, had a field day asking questions of the government.
03:14They were time and again asking the government to provide details of Operation Sindhu.
03:18I think what the Air Chief Marshal has said is pretty clear.
03:21It has become crystal clear what happened during Operation Sindhu.
03:25We shot down Pakistani jets.
03:28Aishwarya, absolutely.
03:29Now, it's coming right from the Air Force Chief's mouth where he is addressing and he is giving out specific details.
03:36You know, there were a lot of, there was a lot of politics happening around Operation Sindhu,
03:39the kind of action and the losses we've had because there were a lot of questions that people were asking,
03:46especially the Western media and some political parties inside India too, including Rahul Gandhi about the losses that we were imposed upon in Operation Sindhu.
03:55But now you see Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, he himself is clarifying that we shot down at least.
04:02Remember, he's saying at least because we think that we have already hit more than five.
04:08But yes, at least five kills we've got.
04:10So, this kill can be of the fighter jets or the aircraft, the large aircraft.
04:16Shwani, please just stay on with me.
04:17Let's listen in first to what the Air Chief Marshal has said.
04:20That is Shabazz, their Jacobabad airfield, one of them again, major airfield that was attacked.
04:30And here there's an F-16 hangar, which you can see here.
04:37And here this is the photograph again from open source, from one of their earlier picture of the same hangar.
04:43And here, that hangar, which is one half of the hangar is gone.
04:49And I'm sure there were some aircraft inside which have got damaged there.
04:53So, if I can just sum it up, what, you know, we were able to get there at least two command and control centers
05:01in like Murid and Chaklala that I have shown you one of the pictures.
05:05At least six radars, some of them big, some of them small.
05:09Two SAGW system that is in Nahor and Okara.
05:13Then, of course, runway at Sargoda and Rahimia Khan.
05:18Three hangars that we attacked.
05:19One was, of course, Sukur, the UAV hangar, the Bolari hangar of AEWNC,
05:26and Jacobabad, the F-16 hangar.
05:28And we have indication of at least one AEWNC in that AEWC hangar and a few F-16s, which were under maintenance there.
05:39Apart from these, the SAGW systems, mostly from, I'm talking about fighter aircraft from S-400,
05:50we have at least five fighters confirmed kills and one large aircraft,
05:56which could be either an ELINT aircraft or an AEWNC aircraft,
06:00which was taken on at a distance of about 300 kilometers.
06:03This is actually the largest ever recorded surface-to-air kill that we can talk about.
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