US President Donald Trump, during a private dinner with Republican lawmakers at the White House, claimed that "five jets were shot down" during the recent India-Pakistan conflict following the Pahalgam terror attack in April 2025.

However, he did not specify which country’s aircraft were downed or provide details substantiating the claim. Trump’s remark reignited international attention on India’s Operation Sindoor, a large-scale, retaliatory military action that began on May 7, 2025, in response to the terror attack in which 26 people, including tourists, were killed.

Operation Sindoor was designed as a high-impact but limited campaign, targeting what New Delhi described as “terrorist infrastructure and military assets” deep inside Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

It represented a clear shift in India’s military posture, focusing on calibrated strikes using Rafale, Sukhoi-30MKI, and Mirage-2000 fighters, supported by long-range BrahMos cruise missiles and precision-guided munitions. Indian forces struck eleven Pakistani airbases, crippling runways, hardened aircraft shelters, radar installations, and command centres, aiming to disrupt the Pakistan Air Force’s ability to escalate or retaliate with a sustained air campaign.

Regarding aircraft losses, the information remains disputed and obscured by conflicting claims:

  1. Pakistan asserted that during the hostilities, its air force downed multiple Indian jets, specifically three French-built Rafale fighters, and claimed to have captured Indian pilots. No credible evidence has been publicly provided to confirm these claims. Notably, the Chairman of Dassault Aviation, Eric Trappier, denied that any Rafale was shot down, calling Pakistan’s narrative “factually incorrect”

  2. India acknowledged through its Chief of Defence Staff, General Anil Chauhan, that the Indian Air Force did lose aircraft during the exchange but explicitly dismissed the Pakistani claim of losing six jets, particularly Rafales, and denied that any Indian pilot was captured. Air Marshal A.K. Bharti stated on May 11 that all Indian pilots had returned safely

  3. Independent defence reporting indicates that India’s S-400 air defence system downed significant Pakistani aerial assets, including a SAAB-2000 AEW&C deep within Pakistani airspace, and that Indian missiles successfully targeted and destroyed a Pakistani C-130J, a JF-17, and two F-16s, either on the ground or in the air. Additionally, Indian forces reportedly destroyed a Chinese-made LY-80 air defence system using a HARPY drone and neutralised a Pakistani HQ-9 system in Karachi

Neither side has released comprehensive or independently verifiable loss figures. The Indian government has largely refrained from detailed public reporting of its own losses, emphasising instead the strategic objectives and lessons learned — focusing on rapidly correcting early tactical mistakes and delivering subsequent, highly precise long-range strikes into heavily defended territory.

Diplomatically, Trump claimed US intervention, including threats to suspend trade talks, compelled the ceasefire, a narrative that New Delhi flatly rejects. Indian officials say the crisis was resolved bilaterally, without decisive foreign mediation, and reject suggestions that the US held up trade for peace.

Operation Sindoor concluded roughly 72 hours after it began, with both countries agreeing to a ceasefire on May 10 following hotline communications between their top military officials. The conflict marked a significant evolution in India’s crisis response doctrine: moving from symbolic to strategically punitive precision strikes, shaped by real-time intelligence and synchronised inter-service operations, and intended to fundamentally alter Pakistan’s calculus on cross-border terrorism.

President Trump’s claim that “five jets were shot down” has not been definitively substantiated by public evidence from either side.

The operation did see intense aerial and missile engagements, with both India and Pakistan suffering losses, but most independent defence analyses support a narrative where Indian strikes delivered substantial material damage to Pakistan’s military infrastructure while minimising their own visible losses, especially to frontline platforms like the Rafale.

The true tally of downed aircraft remains opaque and is overshadowed by a broader message of strategic signalling and crisis management between two nuclear-armed neighbours.

Based on Reuters Report