Bengaluru, August 9, 2025 — Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh has confirmed that the Indian Air Force (IAF) destroyed five Pakistani fighter aircraft during Operation Sindoor, a retaliatory mission launched after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
Speaking in Bengaluru on Saturday, Singh said the strikes were executed using the S-400 air defence system, which also brought down a large airborne early warning aircraft believed to be an AEW&C or ELINT platform at an estimated range of 300 kilometres. He described it as the largest recorded surface-to-air kill in history.
“In addition to the confirmed fighter kills, one AEW&C-type aircraft was neutralised. Half of the F-16 hangar at Pakistan’s Shahbaz Jacobabad airbase was gone, with possible damage to aircraft inside,” Singh said, outlining the operation’s meticulous planning and rapid execution.
Operation Sindoor, launched on May 7, had already been credited with inflicting heavy losses on Pakistan’s air force assets, though the exact toll was not previously disclosed. Wreckage was unavailable as the Pakistani aircraft had not crossed into Indian airspace.
Singh stated that the precision strikes left Pakistan’s air defence network severely degraded. “It was a high-tech conflict. Within 80 to 90 hours, we inflicted significant damage to their air systems. They realised that continuing would only result in greater losses,” he said.
Indian forces also took control of two Pakistani command-and-control hubs Murid and Chaklala and destroyed six radars of various capacities. Intelligence reports suggested that the AEW&C hangar and several F-16s undergoing maintenance were also hit.
The IAF chief’s confirmation comes days after former US President Donald Trump claimed that five Pakistani jets were lost during the clashes and reiterated his assertion of having mediated between the two countries a claim India continues to deny, maintaining that no third party was involved in the ceasefire agreement.
