Chief of Defence Staff Anil Chauhan on Saturday seemed to confirm that India had lost fighter jets in the dogfight with the Pakistan Air Force during Operation Sindoor on May 8.

Chauhan spoke to Bloomberg TV in Singapore, but did not mention whether the jet(s) downed were Rafales, MiGs or Sukhois; he said “yes” when prodded if India did lose fighter aircraft.

“What is important is… not the jets being downed but why they were downed,” said Chauhan in the interview.

When the reporter asked again if at least one jet was down, Chauhan said, “Yeah.”

“So the good part is that we are able to understand the tactical mistake which we made, remedy it, rectify it and then implement it again after two days and flew all our jets again targeting at long range, which I said.”

He added: “I think what is important is that not the jets being downed but why they were being downed.”

Asked if Pakistan’s claims of downing six Indian jets was true, Chauhan said: “Absolutely incorrect… and that is not information which I said is important. What is important is… why they went down. That is more important for us, and what did we do after that.”

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh posted a clip of the interview and asked if the Narendra Modi government will set up a review committee to audit the operations.

“On July 29, 1999, the Vajpayee Govt set up the Kargil Review Committee under the chairmanship of India's strategic affairs guru K. Subrahmanyam - whose son is now our External Affairs Minister. This was just three days after the Kargil War had ended. This Committee submitted its detailed report five months later. The report titled ‘From Surprise to Reckoning’ was then laid on the Table of both Houses of Parliament on Feb 23, 2000 after the necessary redactions. Will the Modi Govt now take a similar step in light of what the Chief of Defence Staff has just revealed in Singapore?” Ramesh posted on his X (formerly Twitter) handle.