'India shot Pakistani plane from 300 km, largest-ever recorded surface-to-air kill': IAF chief's big update on Operation Sindoor - key revelations

NEW DELHI: Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Amar Preet Singh on Saturday announced a major update on Operation Sindoor , revealing that India’s counterterror military action caused heavy losses to Pakistan. He said IAF shot down six Pakistani aircraft, including five fighter jets and a high-value surveillance platform, believed to be an AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) aircraft.

Speaking at the Air Chief Marshal LM Katre Memorial Lecture in Bengaluru, the IAF chief presented satellite images and intelligence reports showing the scale of damage to Pakistan’s air fleet and terror infrastructure.

Here are the key revelations by IAF on Operation Sindoor:

• "We have at least five fighters confirmed kills and one large aircraft, which could be either an ELINT aircraft or an AEW &C aircraft, which was taken on at a distance of about 300 kilometres. This is actually the largest ever recorded surface-to-air kill that we can talk about."

• "We were able to get at least two command and control centres, like Murid and Chaklala."

• "At least six radars, some of them big, some of them small. Two SAGW systems that is in Lahore and Okara."

• "We attacked three hangars. One was the Sukkur UAV hangar, the Bholari hangar and the Jacobabad F-16 hangar. We have an indication of at least one AEW&C in that AEW&C hangar and a few F-16s, which were under maintenance there."

• "There was political will, clear directions with no restrictions."

• "I'm very happy that this time we were able to take care of that ghost of Balakot that we were able to tell the world what we have achieved."

• "In Balakot, we could not get anything from inside, and it became a big issue trying to tell our own people, unfortunately, as to what we have been able to achieve."
  
• "We decided that if they attack any of our military installation, then we are going to reply by attacking their military installation which matter to them. This point was debated… Their aircraft tried to penetrate our defences. Our Air Defence systems did a wonderful job. Here, S-400 was a game-changer."

• "After the attacks, we informed Pakistan DGMO that we have no military aspirations only terror targets, but he did not agree, so we were cautious."