Trump Files “5 Jets Were Shot Down”: Another Op Sindoor Allegation

Following the Pahalgam terror assault, US President Donald Trump said on Friday that “five jets were shot down” in the recent battle between India and Pakistan. He did not identify whose nation’s planes were shot down in his statements, which were made during a private luncheon with Republican leaders at the White House.

Indeed, aircraft were being launched from the sky. Trump referred to the brief but fierce military confrontation between the nuclear-armed neighbors when he added, “Five, five, four, or five, but I think five jets were shot down actually.”

Despite its lack of specifics, the assertion revived interest in Operation Sindoor, India’s military response to the April 22 terror assault in Pahalgam, Jammu & Kashmir, which was initiated in early May. 26 people, including tourists, were murdered in the attack, which sparked a four-day escalation of air and missile strikes.

Pakistan has repeatedly asserted that it detained Indian pilots and that its air force shot down Indian jets during the conflict, including three French-built Rafale fighters. Islamabad has not shown any proof to support these assertions.

India, on the other hand, has mostly avoided talking about its losses. Anil Chauhan, the Indian Chief of Defence Staff, admitted that the Indian Air Force (IAF) did lose aircraft in the weeks after the truce, but he rejected Pakistan’s claim that six Indian jets were destroyed.

At the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in May, General Chauhan told Bloomberg TV, “What is important is not the jet being down, but why they were being down.” “Numbers are not important.”

General Chauhan continued by describing how India was able to swiftly adjust its strategy, learn from its mistakes, and fire successful waves of precision long-range strikes deep inside Pakistani territory.

“We were able to do precision strikes on heavily air-defended airfields of Pakistan deep 300 kilometers inside, with the precision of a meter,” he stated.

India has repeatedly disputed that any Indian pilots were taken prisoner or imprisoned and claimed that no Rafale planes were destroyed.

On June 15, Eric Trappier, the CEO and Chairman of Dassault Aviation, the French company that makes the Rafale, referred to Pakistan’s assertions as “factually incorrect.”

In an interview with the French magazine Challenges, Mr. Trappier stated, “What Pakistan is claiming about downing three Rafales is simply not true.”” We already know that the claims made by the Pakistanis regarding the destruction of three Rafale planes are untrue. Many people may be surprised by the reality once all the details are disclosed.

Although India has continuously disputed that claim, Trump reaffirmed that the ceasefire, which was declared on May 10, was the consequence of US diplomatic action.

“We prevented numerous wars. And the ongoing conflict between India and Pakistan was serious. They were striking each other, and these are two very dangerous nuclear-armed nations. It appears to be a new kind of warfare, you know. You witnessed it most recently when you looked at what we accomplished in Iran, where we destroyed their nuclear capabilities.

However, India and Pakistan were engaged in a back-and-forth dispute that was growing more and more intense, and we were able to resolve it through trade. “You guys want to make a trade deal,” we said. If both really powerful nuclear states are going to be spouting weapons, including maybe nuclear weapons, we won’t be negotiating a trade agreement.”

Trump’s version of events has been contested by India. Its official stance is that no foreign mediator was instrumental in the crisis’s resolution and that New Delhi and Islamabad handled it bilaterally. The notion that the US threatened to halt trade negotiations to achieve peace has also been denied by Indian officials.

The Air Force, Army, and Navy launched coordinated strikes as part of Operation Sindoor on the evening of May 7. India attacked “terrorist infrastructure and military assets” throughout Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir throughout the following 72 hours.

On May 11, Air Marshal A.K. Bharti said that every Indian pilot had made a safe return.