The Chief of the Aviation Staff Marshal AP Singh lectures the key address of the 16th Chief Chief Marshal LM Katre Memorial Lectures in Bengaluru 9 August 2025. Photo Credit: J. Allen Egenus
The Indian Air Force (IAF) reduced six Pakistani air aircraft, including five fighter aircraft and one large aircraft, during the Sindoor operation in May, said the Chief of Air Staff AP Singh on Saturday (August 9, 2025).
Delivering the Keynote Address of the 16th Air Chief Marshal LM Katre Memorial Lecture in Bengaluru, Air Chief Marshal Singh Said, ”We Have at Least Fight Fighters An Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW & C) Aircraft WHICH WACE OUT FROM A DISTANCE OF ABOUT 300 km, which is the Largest ever to kill the surface-to-air we can talk about.
This is the first time that the higher officer of the Indian Armed Forces has officially confirmed that during the Sindoor operation, Pakistan’s air assets have reduced.
The hangars also hit
Shahbaz Jacobabad Air Field, one of the main Pakistani main airports, was also focused on the IAF during the operation, he said, adding that there are indications that in one hangar and several F-16 in another hangar that was hit during the attack.
“APART FROM THESE (AIRCRAFT), THERE A and LARGE NUMBER OF (UNMANNED AERIAL Vehicles) UAVS and DRONES, SOME OF WHOSE MISSILES HAD FALEN IN OUR TERRITORY; DID, WHERE THE WERE LAUNCED FROM, What Route They Followed, What Kind of Systems Had, What Generation They Belonged To, What Kind of Features They Had, etc., ”The Iaf Chief Said.
He added that the Indian air defense systems did a great job, especially the Russian S-400 system, which described as a game converter.
Before and after pictures
During his lecture, Chief Chief Marshal Singh also shared “before and after” images of damage caused by the Indian air attack on the Jaish-E-Mohammad headquarters in Bahawalpur and Lashkar-E-Taba, both in Pakistan.
“I’ll show you some pictures of what we have achieved before and after the attack. Of course, these are satellite pictures and after the attack we got immediate pictures. The buildings they target were based on intelligence. One thing that was good this time was not only satellite pictures, but we also had a lot of local media inputs.”
IAF chief shares the pictures before and after the Škoda in Bahawalpur. | Photo Credit: J. Allen Egenus
Overcoming the spirit of the Balakot
He noted that although IAF carried out similar attacks during Balakot Airstrikes in 2019, he could not get pictures from inside targeted buildings.
“In Balakot, We Could Not Get Anything from Inside and It Became and Big Issue Trying to Tell Own People … What We Were Able to Achieve. We Had Intelligence of What Had Gone Inside, We Had and Very Clear Picture Inside but we have a time again, and thing liky that would have given us the same problem Tell the world what we have achieved, ”said Singh Marshal.
“Clear political will”
He added that one of the reasons for the success of the Sindoor operation was the political will and the free hand of the armed forces to carry out the attack.
“What were the reasons for success? The one I remember is political will. It was a very clear political will, very clear directions that were given to us, and there was no restriction.
Published – 9. August 2025 12:52
