New Delhi, June 29, 2025: In a rare admission, an Indian defence official has acknowledged that the Indian Air Force (IAF) lost aircraft during its unprovoked airstrikes on civilian sites in Pakistan on the night of May 7, amid the recent 86-hour conflict between the two nuclear-armed nations.
Captain Shiv Kumar, an Indian defence attaché, made the remarks during a seminar titled “Analysis of the Pakistan–India Air Battle and Indonesia’s Anticipatory Strategies from the Perspective of Air Power,” held at Universitas Dirgantara Marsekal Suryadarma in Indonesia. His comments were reported by Indian media outlets.
Kumar attributed the IAF’s losses to limitations imposed by India’s political leadership, claiming that Indian pilots were instructed not to engage Pakistani military assets in order to avoid further escalation. “Our hands were tied due to political directives,” he reportedly said.
This comes after India’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Anil Chauhan, confirmed in an interview with Bloomberg Television that Indian fighter jets were indeed lost during the May clashes. Speaking on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, General Chauhan did not specify the number of aircraft lost but rejected Pakistan’s claims of shooting down six jets. “What is important is not how many jets were downed, but why they were downed,” he said, adding, “Numbers are not important.”
However, on May 30, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy publicly acknowledged that Pakistan had downed five Indian jets, including some of the French-built Rafale fighters.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) maintains that it shot down at least six Indian fighter jets, including three Rafales, during the brief but intense aerial exchange. The Rafales, acquired by the Modi government to provide a technological edge over the PAF, were considered a key component of India’s air superiority strategy.
Despite growing questions, Indian military officials continue to withhold specific figures related to the losses, as secrecy prevails within defence circles.
