CDS Anil Chauhan confirms India lost fighter jets in Pakistan conflict: Bloomberg TV report

STC NEWS MONITORING DESK
MAY 31 (STC) For the first time confirmed reports have surfaced that India lost an unspecified number of fighter jets in clashes with Pakistan in May, reveals a Bloomberg TV report quoting Anil Chauhan, chief of defence staff of the Indian Armed Forces.
In an interview with Bloomberg TV on Saturday while attending the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, he said that the four-day conflict never came close to the point of nuclear war.
“What is important is that, not the jet being down, but why they were being down,” the chief of defence staff of the Indian Armed Forces. 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,” General Chauhan said when asked about the fighter jets. “Numbers are not important,” he added.
“The good part is that we are able to understand the tactical mistake which we made, remedy it, rectify it, and then implement it again after two days and flew all our jets again, targeting at long range,” General Chauhan said.
Notably, General Chauhan declined to comment on President Donald Trump’s claim that the US helped to avert a nuclear war, but said it was “far-fetched” to suggest either side was close to using atomic weapons.
“I personally feel that there is a lot of space between conduct of conventional operations and the nuclear threshold,” General Chauhan said. Channels of communication with Pakistan “were always open” to control the situation, he added, noting that on the escalation ladder, there were “more sub-ladders which can be exploited for settling out our issues” without needing to resort to nuclear weapons.
General Chauhan also downplayed Pakistan’s claims about the effectiveness of weaponry deployed from China and other countries, saying they “didn’t work.” A research group under India’s Defense Ministry said this month that China provided Pakistan with air defense and satellite support during its clash with India.
“We were able to do precision strikes on heavily air-defended airfields of Pakistan deep 300 kilometres inside, with the precision of a meter,” the Indian military chief said.
(STC)