The Indian military shot down five Pakistani warplanes, including American-origin F-16s, during Operation Sindoor, the country's counter-terror mission against Pakistan in May 2025, Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Amar Preet Singh revealed on Friday.
Detailing Pakistan's losses during Operation Sindoor, Singh underlined that the Islamic Republic suffered heavy damage, including its radars being taken down at four places, deep craters created at two of its runways, aircraft hangars knocked out at three different bases, amongst others.
"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," the IAF's top official said at a press conference on the occasion of the 93rd Air Force Day in Delhi.
He said that there were signs of one C-130 class aircraft and about four to five fighter jets, most likely F-16s, since that location typically hosts F-16s and some might have been under maintenance at the time. He also mentioned that one surface-to-air missile (SAM) system had been destroyed.
"We have clear evidence of one long-range strike, which I talked about more than 300 kilometres, which happened to be either an AEW&C or a significant aircraft, along with that five high-tech fighters between F-16 and JF-17 class this is what our system tells us," he added.
Singh's comments gain special attention, especially at a time when Pakistan has repeatedly claimed to have downed Indian fighter jets during the military confrontation, without offering any kind of audio-video evidence to showcase those kills.
Moreover, Singh's statement comes amid a sharp turn in Pakistani-American relations, with US President Donald Trump hosting the Pakistan Army chief general Asim Munir at the White House last month.
For the unversed, the F-16 is a widely acclaimed American fighter jet that the Pakistan Air Force operates.