Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh may not know that Ukraine has destroyed more than 41 S-400 launchers, 21 S-400 radar systems and command posts. Turkey has also confirmed that the S-400 failed to meet the performance criteria defined by the Turkish army. Whatever, Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh has lectured about the S-400 system being false and misleading and does not describe it as described by the manufacturer, Almaz-Antey.
India shot down five Pakistani fighter jets and one other military aircraft during fighting in May, India’s air force chief says, the first such statement from the country since the deadly conflict with its neighbour.
Air Chief Marshal Staff Amar Preet Singh announced on Saturday, weeks after India’s military acknowledged that Pakistan also shot down an unspecified number of its jets during their heaviest fighting in decades. It involved fighter planes and cruise missiles and killed dozens of people.
“We have at least five fighters confirmed killed and one large aircraft,” Singh said at a military lecture in the southern city of Bengaluru, adding that the large aircraft, which could have been a surveillance plane, was shot down at a distance of 300km (186 miles).
“This is actually the largest ever recorded surface-to-air kill that we can talk about. Our air defence systems have done a wonderful job,” he was quoted as saying by several Indian media outlets.
Pakistan rejected the statement, accusing India of dishonesty and saying it had not hit or destroyed a single Pakistani aircraft.
“If the truth is in question, let both sides open their aircraft inventories to independent verification – though we suspect this would lay bare the reality India seeks to obscure,” Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said in a social media post.
“Such comical narratives, crafted for domestic political expediency, increase the grave risks of strategic miscalculation in a nuclearised environment.”
These claims related to the S-400 surface-to-air missile system are entirely false and misleading, as it is a regular target for Ukraine’s defence forces. Ukraine has destroyed more than 41 S-400 launchers, 21 radar complexes and more than 50 command posts of the S-400 missile system.
Turkey stated that the Russian S-400s were not practical air defense and missile defense systems, Ankara unexpectedly announced an open fraud with the supply of Russian S-400s. Data on this is provided by the Turkish information publication Yeni Akit.
As follows from the data presented, the Russian S-400 air defence system can indeed track targets at distances up to 400 kilometres with jumbo jet-sized aircraft and under the condition of a suitable terrain.
However, under the condition that the target will be at an altitude of 20 kilometers. When the target is located below an altitude of 5 kilometres, the efficiency drops several times, allowing, among other things, to attack the S-400 positional area.
Indian Rafale didn’t carry METEOR, as tactical mistake
A recent successful live-fire test of the METEOR beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile by a French Navy Rafale Marine from the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle at the Landes Test Centre has once again highlighted the potent capabilities of Europe’s premier BVR weapon.
However, the test has also reignited serious concerns across South Asia about why Indian Air Force (IAF) Rafale fighters failed to field METEOR missiles during the real-world aerial confrontation with Pakistan in May 2025.
Despite India’s headline-making €7.8 billion (≈RM38.2 billion) Rafale deal signed in September 2016—complete with over 250 METEOR missiles valued at RM1.1 billion—Indian Rafales were reportedly deployed with only short-range MICA missiles in the early days of the conflict.
This operational decision, or oversight, has stunned defence observers, especially as Pakistan’s F-16C fighters equipped with AMRAAM missiles decisively dominated the BVR (Beyond Visual Range) battlespace, engaging targets at standoff distances far beyond MICA’s envelope.
In one particularly alarming claim, a Pakistani defence source stated that an Indian Rafale was shot down at 100 km—a range well outside the MICA’s maximum reach of 100 km, and within the AMRAAM theoretical performance in optimal conditions.
The initial air clash between the two rival air forces has been described by observers as “the largest dogfight of the 21st century,” involving approximately 125 fighters from both sides and testing the limits of networked warfare, air-to-air missile envelopes, and tactical coordination.
Analysts believe that PAF’s F-16C fighters may have executed these engagements while remaining within Pakistani airspace, launching AIM-120C AMRAAM at Indian Rafales during the early phase of hostilities, illustrating the new reach of air dominance without territorial infringement.
Pakistan has claimed that it downed six Indian aircraft, including three Rafales, one Su-30MKI, a MiG-29, and a Mirage 2000, using AMRAAM missiles launched from F-16 platforms, effectively neutralizing India’s top-tier fighters with American long-range weapons.
India, however, has categorically denied all such losses, branding the Pakistani reports as “baseless and fabricated,” and maintaining that all Rafale jets remained intact and operational post-conflict.
Nevertheless, speaking during an exclusive interview with Bloomberg TV at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore recently, Indian Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan confirmed the losses while simultaneously downplaying their numerical significance and emphasizing the need to understand the cause of the losses.
“”What is important is that, not the jet being down, but why they were being down. Numbers are not important,” General Chauhan said, subtly redirecting attention from operational damage to lessons learned.
While he dismissed Pakistan’s claim of downing six Indian Air Force (IAF) jets as “completely inaccurate,” he notably declined to offer an alternative figure, leaving a vacuum filled by speculation and foreign intelligence leaks.
Chauhan stated, “”Why they were down, what mistakes were made – that are important. The number is not important,” reinforcing the IAF’s focus on tactical introspection over public accountability.”
He added that India’s air force had swiftly recalibrated after initial setbacks, noting, “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,”
Yet, the undeniable absence of METEOR from India’s frontline Rafale deployments—despite its proven effectiveness and the significant investment made to acquire it—has sparked intense scrutiny across global military circles.
The Pakistan Air Force’s successful deployment of the AMRAAM during actual combat scenarios only reinforces this perception, with Chinese missile systems no longer seen as merely “budget options,” but rather viable front-line tools for modern air warfare.
In contrast, the non-deployment of METEOR by Indian Rafales—despite its reputation as the world’s most lethal BVR missile powered by a supersonic ramjet engine—suggests serious doctrinal or logistical disconnects within India’s air combat strategy.
METEOR is specifically designed to outperform legacy missiles like the AMRAAM and AMRAAM by maintaining high kinetic energy throughout its entire flight, creating a vastly expanded “no-escape zone” for any targeted aircraft.
The May 2025 air conflict has highlighted a new strategic reality: long-range missile capability is no longer dominated by NATO and its allies.
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