Bengaluru: The Indian Air Force (IAF) shot down five Pakistani fighter jets and a large aircraft during Operation Sindoor, in the largest-ever recorded surface-to-air kill by India, Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh said on Saturday.
This is the first official comment on the damage caused to Pakistan during the Indian strikes over three months ago. Many opposition leaders have been attacking the government over the delay in revealing the extent of damage caused to both India and Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, which was in response to the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed.
Singh, who was delivering the 16th Air Chief Marshal L M Katre Memorial Lecture here, also presented a detailed account of the May 7 strikes on terrorist headquarters and other terror assets near the border and inside Pakistan.
“We have at least five fighters confirmed killed and one large aircraft, which could be either an aircraft or an AWC, which was taken 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.
He also said that there were indications of at least one AWC in that AWC hangar, and a few F-16s, which are under maintenance there, were also being damaged. The operation also resulted in a large number of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), drones, and some of their missiles falling into the Indian territory without causing any damage to Indian installations, he added.
Asserting that one of the major reasons behind the success of the operation was “political will”, Singh said, “I’m being very, very candid…very open here, because I hear various versions of it.”
“If I tell you something, people will have to believe because I was there, listening to everybody, and attending…There was very clear political will, very clear directions which were given to us, and there were no kind of restrictions which were put on,” he said.
He said people are asking if there were any restrictions or if we were kept constrained. “If there were any constraints, they were self-made. We, the forces, decided what our rules of engagement would be. We, the forces, decided what will be the escalation ladder that we want to ride on. We decided how we want to control the escalation,” he said.
“So I want to make it very clear there were no, I repeat, no restrictions on us. Full freedom was given to us to plan and execute. I must say that you know that our attacks have been calibrated because we wanted to be mature about it,” he added.
Singh’s comment came in the wake of opposition leaders, including senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, attacking the Prime Minister and the government for agreeing to the ceasefire when our forces were getting the better of Pakistan.
The IAF chief also emphasised the importance of “terminating a war”.
“Our objective was very clear. Our objective was to teach the terrorists a lesson that they will think twice before doing something; now they know what kind of price they can pay. And once we have achieved those objectives, we should look for all windows of opportunity to stop that, rather than just continuing.
“We were actually on a song that night. I heard from so many people…some people very close to me also said ‘Aur Marna Tha’,” he said.
He called the Russian-made S-400 surface-to-air missile system a “game-changer” and said that Pakistan was not able to penetrate the system.
“The range of that system had kept Pakistan’s aircraft and UAVs away from the Indian defence system. Because of the S-400 system, Pakistan has not been able to penetrate the Indian air defence system,” he noted.
Talking about the Balakot air strike, post Pulwama terror attack, he said there were no images available, and it became a big issue.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t tell our own people as to what we have been able to achieve. We had intelligence that there had been huge damage; there were so many terrorists who were neutralised, but we could not convince our own people. But (this time) we were lucky, and we got these videos out in the open,” he said.
“I am happy that we could take care of that ghost of Balakot,” he asserted.
About Operation Sindoor, he said, based on specific intelligence, the IAF decided to attack the airfield.
“So the airfield was attacked and the main building where the planning goes on, which was also used as the civil terminal building at times. As far as the Sukkur airbase is concerned, we attacked the UAB hangar and radar site,” he said.
During the slideshow, he showed visuals of the AWC hangar, which was flattened after the Indian attack.
Regarding Sargodha air base in Pakistan, the IAF chief said, “We have grown up in our Air Force dreaming about days like this. Someday we will get a chance. Just so happens that I got a chance before my retirement. We attacked the airfield that had the very hard info on the F-16s,” he added.
Singh also said the post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) has made a difference in military operations.
“The CDS was always there to get us together and iron things out. Whenever we required it, we used to go to the senior leadership and discuss things,” he added.
The Air Chief Marshal highlighted National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s role in Operation Sindoor, helping bring other agencies and forces together. When the operation began, military chiefs discussed in detail the eventualities, possible outcomes, and how India should react, he underlined.
On the takeaways from Operation Sindoor, Singh said, “The biggest takeaway of the operation has been that the primacy of air warfare has come to the forefront once again. People have realised that air warfare is the first responder that any country has, and air warfare can actually react in a quick time, attack deep inside with precision, and just achieve your objective without any collateral.”
The IAF carried out precision strikes on multiple targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir linked to terror groups. The operation was aimed at destroying terror infrastructure, neutralising key operatives, and sending a clear message that cross-border terrorism would invite decisive retaliation.
