Operation Sindoor: Pakistan Lost at least 9 Aircrafts, 10 UCAV Drones besides Ground Damages
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 4: Amidst its denial mode, the Pakistani officials have secretly admitted that at least six Pakistan Air Force (PAF) fighter jets, two high-value surveillance aircraft, more than 10 Unmanned and Armed Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs), a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft and multiple cruise missiles were destroyed by the Indian Air Force during its four-day conflict “Operation Sindoor,” India’s retaliatory military action following the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed 26 lives.
The revelation came hours after a confidential Pakistani dossier was circulated that had also revealed that eight more targets than India had claimed were hit by the armed forces were hit in Pakistan.
Official sources said on Wednesday that the revelation regarding the destruction of Pakistani jets and other aircraft was made amid an ongoing analysis of the damage inflicted upon by the Indian Air Force on Pakistan Air Force following ‘Operation Sindoor.’
According to sources, a post-conflict assessment of the military engagement in early May has revealed heavy damage to Pakistani aerial and ground military assets. The six PAF fighter jets were downed during aerial operations. These aircraft were engaged and destroyed in air-to-air combat as part of the retaliatory response by Indian air defence units. The engagements occurred within Pakistani Punjab and parts of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK).
The downing of these jets, according to sources, was confirmed via radar tracking and thermal signatures captured by Indian ground-based missile systems and airborne early warning assets. The Pakistani aircraft vanished from tracking grids after impact confirmations, sources said.
One of the key hits during the four-day engagement was the destruction of a high-value airborne surveillance platform. According to sources, the target was either an electronic countermeasure (ECM) platform or an Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft, neutralised at an estimated range of 300 kilometres using India’s long-range strike asset, the Sudarshan. Another AEW&C aircraft of Swedish origin, reportedly stationed at Pakistan’s Bholari airbase, was destroyed during a subsequent air-to-surface cruise missile strike.
Satellite imagery showed the complete destruction of the hangar housing the aircraft. In a separate operation, a PAF C-130 Hercules was destroyed during a targeted drone strike over Pakistani Punjab. The C-130 was being used for logistical support and was parked at a forward operating base near Multan when the drone strike occurred, sources said.
The IAF also undertook precision strikes against unmanned systems. During an operation involving Rafale and Su-30 jets, a hangar housing multiple Chinese-origin Wing Loong series medium-altitude, long-endurance drones was destroyed. According to sources, over ten UCAVs were destroyed in this single strike. Additionally, Indian air defence units intercepted and downed several Pakistani UCAVs over Indian airspace during the conflict, particularly over sectors in Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan.
A previously undisclosed Pakistani military dossier on “Operation Bunyan un Marsoos,” Islamabad’s codename for its military operation to counter
“Operation Sindoor,” has also revealed that India struck at least eight more targets than acknowledged in official Indian statements.
Satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies confirmed substantial damage to several of these locations, particularly the training camps in PoK. Indian officials maintain that the initial strikes were confined to anti-terror operations and did not target Pakistani military establishments until Pakistan initiated cross-border drone and missile strikes on Indian civilian and military locations on May 8.
There are inputs about the presence of fighter jets also in the hangar, but since the Pakistanis are not even taking out debris from there, “we are not counting the fighter aircraft losses on the ground”, the report quoted sources as saying.
The Indian Air Force used only air-launched cruise missiles to attack Pakistani bases, and no surface-to-surface BrahMos missiles were used in the attacks, they said.
More than 10 UCAVs were also destroyed by the different IAF air defence systems over Pakistani airspace in the conflict, along with large-scale interception of Pakistani air and ground-launched cruise and ballistic missiles aimed at different air bases.
Meanwhile, the Indian Air Force was still carrying out an analysis of the losses during the conflict, which began on the intervening night of May 6 and 7, when India launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack.
More than 100 terrorists were also killed in the operation.
