The Indian Air Force holds a press conference on May 11, 2025. Photo: Screenshot from NDTV Profit's YouTube channel

In response to a media inquiry regarding whether Pakistan had downed Rafale jets and the number of assets lost during a press conference on Sunday, Indian General Air Operations Air Marshal AK Bharti refrained from disclosing specific operational details, such as numbers, platforms used, or exact targets, citing ongoing security concerns, however, the officer tried to assure that strategic goals had been achieved, India Today News Desk reported.

"At this time, I would not like to comment on operational specifics because we are still in a combat situation. Anything I say could be an advantage to the adversary, and we do not want to give any advantage at this stage," the officer added. "All I can say is that we have achieved all our objectives that we selected and that all our pilots are back home," India Today News Desk reported.

In response to another media query about whether India has taken down Pakistani fighter jets, Air Marshal AK Bharti says, "As I said, their planes were prevented from coming inside our border. So, we don't have wreckage with us, but definitely, we have downed a few Pakistani planes; numbers, we would not like to hazard a guess out here, I have the numbers and we are getting into technical details to establish it. So, I would not like to put a figure at this time," according to the Indian local media, Press Trust of India.

Previously, Pakistan claimed it shot down five planes and at least one drone: three Rafale fighter jets, one MIG-29 fighter aircraft, one Su-30 fighter jet and one Heron drone, the New York Times reported.

According to the Reuters, one US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was high confidence that Pakistan had used the Chinese-made J-10 aircraft to launch air-to-air missiles against Indian fighter jets - bringing down at least two.

Another official said at least one Indian jet that was shot down was a French-made Rafale fighter aircraft, said Reuters.

Global Times