Fact Check: India lost 3 types of aircraft during Operation Sindoor? No, Captain Shiv Kumar’s quote was misrepresented
It is being claimed that Captain Shiv Kumar acknowledged that India lost Rafale, MiG-29 and Mirage-2000 jets during the May 7 strikes on Pakistan.
By Md Mahfooz Alam
Claim:Captain Shiv Kumar acknowledged that India lost Rafale, MiG-29 and Mirage-2000 jets during the May 7 strikes on Pakistan, carried out in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack.
Fact:The claim is misleading. While Captain Shiv Kumar did acknowledge that India lost some aircraft, he did not specify the types, numbers or locations where the aircraft were shot down or crashed.
Hyderabad: On June 10, a seminar titled ‘Analysis of the Pakistan-India Air Battle and Indonesia’s Anticipatory Strategies’ was held at Universitas Dirgantara Marsekal Suryadarma in Jakarta. The discussion focused on Operation Sindoor and the rules of engagement followed during the conflict.
In this context, it is being claimed that Captain Shiv Kumar acknowledged during the seminar that India lost Rafale, MiG-29 and Mirage-2000 jets during the May 7 strikes on Pakistan, carried out in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack.
One X user wrote, “I do agree we did lose some aircraft, says Captain (IN) Shiv Kumar. Yeah, I agree too. At least 3 as of now. 1. The Rafale that crashed near Bathinda. 2. The MiG-29 that crashed near Ramban. 3. Mirage-2000 that crashed at Wuyan near Pampore. How or why they crashed .......... well!!”
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is misleading. While Captain Shiv Kumar did acknowledge that India lost some aircraft, he did not specify the types, numbers or locations where the aircraft were shot down or crashed.
We conducted a keyword search and found a report by The Print, published on June 29, titled ‘IAF lost some’ jets in Op Sindoor over political constraint to not hit military—Indian Defence Attaché.’
According to the report, a seminar was held on June 10 at Universitas Dirgantara Marsekal Suryadarma in Indonesia, themed ‘Analysis of the Pakistan-India Air Battle and Indonesia’s Anticipatory Strategies.’
During his presentation, India’s Defence Attaché to Indonesia, Captain Shiv Kumar, described India’s May 7 cross-border strikes, targeting nine terror training camps across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), as an act of ‘political signalling.’ He stated that the only directive from the government was to target terror camps and avoid striking any military installations.
The report also mentioned that in response to a previous speaker who referenced Pakistan’s claim of shooting down six Indian aircraft, including three Rafales, Captain Kumar said: “I may not agree with him that India lost so many aircraft. But I do agree that we did lose some aircraft, and that happened only because of the constraint given by the political leadership to not attack the military establishments and their air defences.”
However, we did not find Captain Kumar specifying the type, number or exact locations of the aircraft that were shot down or crashed.
We also found reports on Captain Kumar’s presentation published by Hindustan Times, The Wire, and The Times of India, all carrying similar details. None of these media outlets reported that Captain Kumar specified the type, number or exact locations of the aircraft that were shot down or crashed.
During the seminar, Captain Kumar stated that India lost “some aircraft” on May 7 due to political constraints that restricted the armed forces to targeting only terror camps, avoiding any military installations.
The reports further mentioned that following the losses on the first day, the armed forces revised their strategy. “We went for the military installations… we first achieved suppression of enemy air defences and then… all our attacks could easily go through using BrahMos missiles,” he said.
We also found that the seminar was live-streamed on the YouTube channel of Universitas Dirgantara Marsekal Suryadarma on June 10.
Starting around the 3:50:00-hour mark, as reported by the aforementioned media outlets, Captain Kumar responds to a previous speaker, refuting the claim that India lost a large number of aircraft, but acknowledging that some were indeed lost due to political constraints that restricted strikes to terror camps and prohibited targeting military installations.
At no point in the video does Captain Kumar mention specific aircraft such as Rafale, MiG-29 or Mirage-2000 being lost during the May 7 strikes.
Therefore, we conclude that the claim of Captain Kumar acknowledging that India lost Rafale, MiG-29 and Mirage-2000 jets during the May 7 strikes on Pakistan is misleading.
