In a rare admission, a top official of the Indian Air Force (IAF) vaguely confirmed on Sunday that Rafale fighter jets were downed during an aerial engagement with Pakistan last week.
The revelation came during a media interaction when Air Marshal Awesh Kumar Bharti, Director General Air Operations of the IAF, responded to a question about the loss of the French-made aircraft.
“Losses are part of combat,” said Air Marshal Bharti, without elaborating on the date, location, or circumstances of the incident.
The acknowledgement marks the first official confirmation of such a loss involving the Rafale, a multi-role combat aircraft inducted by India with much fanfare.
On Wednesday, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told the media that Pakistan Air Force downed five Indian Air Force jets, including three Rafale jets, in retaliation following Indian missile attacks.
The same day, a high-ranking French intelligence official disclosed to CNN that Pakistan had successfully downed an Indian Air Force Rafale jet, in what would be the first combat loss of the sophisticated French-built warplane.
The revelation comes hours after Pakistan’s military claimed to have destroyed five Indian jets, including at least three Rafale, during an intense overnight engagement near the disputed Kashmir region.
The French official stated that authorities were still “examining possible further losses” but confirmed one Rafale had been struck by Pakistani forces.
Last week, two US officials confirmed to Reuters that a top Chinese-made Pakistani fighter shot down at least two Indian military aircraft.
One US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was high confidence that Pakistan had used the Chinese-made J-10 aircraft to launch air-to-air missiles against Indian fighter jets, bringing down at least two.
Another official said that at least one Indian jet that was shot down was a French-made Rafale fighter aircraft.
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