For the first time, India has officially claimed it shot down both US-made F-16 and Chinese-made JF-17 fighter jets of Pakistan during Operation Sindoor in May. IAF chief detailed strikes on Pakistani airfields, radars and aircraft.
New Delhi: In a significant first, India has claimed to have shot down both American-made F-16 and Chinese-made JF-17 fighter jets operated by the Pakistan Air Force during ‘Operation Sindoor’ in May. This assertion appears to settle the long-standing debate over whether the Indian Air Force successfully downed any enemy aircraft during the operation.
Addressing the mediapersons ahead of the 93rd Indian Air Force Day, Indian Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal AP Singh said: “As far as Pakistan’s losses are concerned. We have struck a large number of their airfields and we struck a large number of installations. Because of these strikes, radars at least four places, command and control centres at two places, runways of course damaged at two places, then three of their hangars in three different stations have been damaged.”
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On the losses of the Pakistani Air Force aerial assets, ACM AP Singh said: “We have signs of one C-130 class of aircraft and at least 4-5 fighter aircraft, most likely F-16, because that place happened to be F-16 with whatever was under maintenance at that time. Along with that, one SAM (Surface to Air Missile) system has been destroyed.”
“As far as the air defence part is concerned, we have clear evidence of one long-range strike, which I talked about more than 300 km, which happened to be either an AEW&C or a SIGINT aircraft, along with five high-tech fighters between F-16 and JF-17 class, this is what our system tells us” the IAF chief added.
It must be noted that this is for the first time India has talked about the class of fighter aircraft – F-16s and JF-17s in public.
The F-16 is a U.S.-made fighter jet while the JF-17 is of Chinese origin.
Pakistan’s claim of downing IAF planes in Operation Sindoor
Earlier, Pakistan had claimed to have shot down India’s six fighter jets, including French-origin Rafale. India has acknowledged some losses stating that “losses are part of the combat and Operation Sindoor is still on”. It had debunked losing six aircraft.
“… their (Pakistan) narrative is ‘Manohar Kahaniyan’. Let them be happy, after all, they also have to show something to their audience to save their reputation. That doesn’t matter to me. If they think they shot down 15 of my jets, let them think about it. I hope they’re convinced about it, and they will cater for 15 less aircraft in my inventory when they come to fight again. So why should I talk about it?”
Besides, the IAF chief spoke on a range of issues, including modernization, theaterization, jointmanship, procurement among others.
Speaking on the relevance of fighters in the scenario of changing nature of warfare, AP Singh said: “At the moment, there are 3-4 major programs which are going on in the world, which they are calling the Sixth Gen Aircraft Program, NGAD (Next Generation Air Dominance program), or other different names. Now, all of them are manned. The importance of man, as of now, as I can see in the foreseeable future, is not going to fade away.”
“There will be unmanned systems. But those unmanned systems have to work in collaboration with the manned system or have to be controlled by a man. So the relevance of fighters will remain in the years to come.”
On being asked about Elon Musk’s tweet that ‘Drones are the future of warfare, manned aircraft are not’, the IAF chief said: “He (Elon Musk) is a businessman. He will talk about it like that because he himself is running a business. His cars, now you see how many of them are there on the road. I’m talking about just a simple car. When it comes to war fighting, I don’t think we can just say that the next generation will see only drones by the end of their tenure. It will not happen like that. So manned platforms will remain there.”
Status on LCA Mk2
AP Singh said: “As far as LCA Mk2 is concerned, according to me, LCA Mk2 is sort of an extension of Mk1A. It is a bigger platform with almost, it’s a similar class if I say generation-wise, but it will be able to carry more weapons. It will be able to perform better in terms of range and endurance. It will be able to carry bigger weapons. So that is why that falls very much in our scheme of things.”
On procurement of additional units of the S-400 air defence system, which had played a crucial role in containing Pakistani aerial threat, he said: “Obviously, that has done good. So, there’s a requirement to have more such; there is no limit to numbers that you can buy. Again, I’m keeping quiet on what the plan is. It has proved to be a good weapon system. We have our own system also developing, so we will take a call on that.”
Russia’s proposal on Su-57
It should be noted, earlier this year, Russia had offered to co-produce the fifth-generation Su-57 stealth fighters in India. On being asked about it, he said: “These are one of the options like Su-57… Rafale. So this is one of the options that is available with us because we had already done our own homework in terms of the earlier MMRCA contract, in that we have found Rafale to be the best aircraft suited for us amongst those candidates.”
“Any aircraft of that class is what is required immediately. Now, whether it is Rafale or something else, it really doesn’t matter, but yes, Rafale is easy to absorb. So whichever design house is ready to come up with the proposal to make it in India, to give us technology, give us more freedom, I think that design house should be chosen,” he added.
“As far as SU-57 is concerned, I just want to say that we have to weigh all the options, and we in the defence ministry and in the Indian Air Force have a very set process of induction of any weapon system, and that process will be followed. So what comes will depend on what meets the requirement and what is best for us.”
Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA)
As per the DRDO’s timeline, the AMCA is going to carry out the first fly in 2028 and is supposed to be inducted and operationalized by 2035.
“So I personally feel this timeline can be achieved, or maybe even better, if people really want to do it. It’s possible. And as far as technology is concerned now, AMCA technology is fairly clear in our mind as to what we want and what is required and where it is available and how it is available.”
The Indian Air Force will mark its 93rd anniversary on October 8. To commemorate the occasion, the Air Force Day Parade will be conducted at Hindon Air Force Station on October 8 while the air show will take place in Guwahati on October 9.