Gen Chauhan was asked whether India lost combat jets during the four-day military clashes with Pakistan earlier this month
Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan during a meeting with Commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command Admiral Samuel J Paparo, on the sidelines of the 22nd Shangri La Dialogue, in Singapore. (@HQ_IDS_India on X via PTI Photo)
New Delhi: India's Chief of Defence Staff, General Anil Chauhan, has revealed that the Indian Air Force (IAF) altered its tactics after experiencing losses on the first day of Operation Sindoor, enabling deeper strikes into Pakistani territory.
He called Pakistan's claims that it shot down six Indian warplanes "absolutely incorrect," though declined to specify how many jets India lost. "Why they were down, what mistakes were made - that are important," Chauhan said when asked about the fighter jets. "Numbers are not important," he added.
"The good part is that we were able to understand the tactical mistake we made, remedy it, and then implement the corrected approach. Two days later, we flew all our jets again over long range."
Gen. Chauhan explained that during the initial phase of the operation, losses did occur, but "the numbers are not important." What truly mattered, he said, was identifying the cause of those losses and adjusting tactics. "So we rectified tactics and then went back on the 7th, 8th, and 10th [of May] in large numbers to hit airbases deep inside Pakistan, penetrating all their air defences with impunity and carrying out precision strikes," he added. "Most of the strikes were delivered with pinpoint accuracy - some even to a metre from our selected mean point of impact."
Earlier this month, Air Marshal A.K. Bharti, Director General of Air Operations, had remarked that "losses are a part of combat" and confirmed that India had downed some Pakistani jets in the exchange.
Addressing speculation about China's role, Gen Chauhan said that despite the close alliance between Pakistan and China, there was no evidence Beijing provided any direct assistance during the conflict. "While this [conflict] was unfolding from April 22 onwards, we didn't detect any unusual activity in the operational or tactical depth of our northern borders-things were generally all right," he noted. When asked whether China might have supplied satellite imagery or real-time intelligence to Pakistan, he responded that such imagery is commercially available and could be procured from multiple sources.
Gen Chauhan also downplayed reports of the effectiveness of Chinese-supplied weaponry used by Pakistan, stating that on the contrary, "they didn't work." He stressed India's own capability to carry out "precision strikes on heavily defended Pakistani airfields, 300 kilometres deep inside, with accuracy down to a metre."
Regarding the nuclear dimension, Gen Chauhan acknowledged that there was a threshold at which the conflict could have escalated to nuclear use but emphasized that "there is a lot of space before that threshold is crossed, a lot of signalling before that. I think nothing like that happened." He added that communication channels with Pakistan "were always open" to manage the situation, noting, "On the escalation ladder, there are more sub-ladders which can be exploited for settling issues without needing to resort to nuclear weapons."
Reflecting on the overall conduct during Operation Sindoor, Gen Chauhan remarked, "It's my personal view that the most rational people are those in uniform when conflict takes place. During this operation, I found both sides displaying a great deal of rationality in their thoughts as well as their actions. So why should we assume that in the nuclear domain there will be irrationality on someone else's part?"
He called Pakistan's claims that it shot down six Indian warplanes "absolutely incorrect," though declined to specify how many jets India lost. "Why they were down, what mistakes were made - that are important," Chauhan said when asked about the fighter jets. "Numbers are not important," he added.
"The good part is that we were able to understand the tactical mistake we made, remedy it, and then implement the corrected approach. Two days later, we flew all our jets again over long range."
Gen. Chauhan explained that during the initial phase of the operation, losses did occur, but "the numbers are not important." What truly mattered, he said, was identifying the cause of those losses and adjusting tactics. "So we rectified tactics and then went back on the 7th, 8th, and 10th [of May] in large numbers to hit airbases deep inside Pakistan, penetrating all their air defences with impunity and carrying out precision strikes," he added. "Most of the strikes were delivered with pinpoint accuracy - some even to a metre from our selected mean point of impact."
Earlier this month, Air Marshal A.K. Bharti, Director General of Air Operations, had remarked that "losses are a part of combat" and confirmed that India had downed some Pakistani jets in the exchange.
Addressing speculation about China's role, Gen Chauhan said that despite the close alliance between Pakistan and China, there was no evidence Beijing provided any direct assistance during the conflict. "While this [conflict] was unfolding from April 22 onwards, we didn't detect any unusual activity in the operational or tactical depth of our northern borders-things were generally all right," he noted. When asked whether China might have supplied satellite imagery or real-time intelligence to Pakistan, he responded that such imagery is commercially available and could be procured from multiple sources.
Gen Chauhan also downplayed reports of the effectiveness of Chinese-supplied weaponry used by Pakistan, stating that on the contrary, "they didn't work." He stressed India's own capability to carry out "precision strikes on heavily defended Pakistani airfields, 300 kilometres deep inside, with accuracy down to a metre."
Regarding the nuclear dimension, Gen Chauhan acknowledged that there was a threshold at which the conflict could have escalated to nuclear use but emphasized that "there is a lot of space before that threshold is crossed, a lot of signalling before that. I think nothing like that happened." He added that communication channels with Pakistan "were always open" to manage the situation, noting, "On the escalation ladder, there are more sub-ladders which can be exploited for settling issues without needing to resort to nuclear weapons."
Reflecting on the overall conduct during Operation Sindoor, Gen Chauhan remarked, "It's my personal view that the most rational people are those in uniform when conflict takes place. During this operation, I found both sides displaying a great deal of rationality in their thoughts as well as their actions. So why should we assume that in the nuclear domain there will be irrationality on someone else's part?"
( Source : Asian Age )
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