India Confirms Jet Losses but Dismisses Rafale Downing Claims in Pakistan Clash

India Faces Tough Questions After Fighter Jet Losses

After days of rumors and claims flying between New Delhi and Islamabad, India's top military officer has spoken out. General Anil Chauhan, the country’s Chief of Defence Staff, confirmed India's Air Force did lose some fighter jets in combat operations targeting Pakistani terror sites around May 7, 2025. But what’s really causing noise is Pakistan's announcement that they had taken out six Indian jets—three of them Rafales. India isn’t having it. According to General Chauhan, those specific claims from Pakistan are 'absolutely incorrect.'

This isn't just about numbers. Rafale fighters are India’s pride—the latest in cutting-edge tech and a symbol of their air power upgrade. Losing even one would be a blow; three would be a disaster. So the Indian military has gone on the record, firmly rejecting Pakistan’s accounts. They say every pilot inside the lost jets managed to eject and made it out alive, adding a layer of relief for families at home and the Air Force community. The Air Force even released satellite imagery to support its side of the story, showing damage inflicted on Pakistani targets and aiming to shred doubts about India’s own aircraft losses.

Switching Tactics and Striking Deep

After the jets went down in the first wave, India’s leadership reportedly wasted little time in rethinking its game plan. The military studied what went wrong, plugged the gaps, and then went big. Between May 8 and 10, Indian fighter jets switched their attacks from close border targets to deep inside Pakistani territory. According to reports from New Delhi, they smashed into airbases like Nur Khan, Rafiqui, and Sukkur—known hubs for Pakistan's airpower. While damage at most of these sites is backed up by satellite photos, there’s still some debate about what actually happened at Rafiqui and Murid, with images not as clear as elsewhere.

But the scale of the mission didn’t stop at runways and hangars. Indian jets also targeted eleven military sites, from command centers to radar installations. Air Marshal A.K. Bharti highlighted that these weren't just random hits. Each strike, he explained, aimed to cripple Pakistan’s ability to respond or regroup. As a result, Indian claims say more than 100 terrorists were wiped out in these attacks. The targets weren’t just military, but strategic—the kind designed to send a message as well as cause real damage.

If you’re picturing dogfights over the border, that only tells part of the story. Both sides deployed drones, fired off missiles, and used artillery. Even so, the much-feared nuclear escalation never happened. General Chauhan described both India and Pakistan as acting with 'rationality,' signaling that certain red lines held, even as the conflict got white-hot. There’s no denying the risk was real. The restraint, in the end, kept a bad situation from turning much worse.