International experts back IAF chief's remark on downing of Pakistan jets

NEW DELHI: International military aviation analysts and historians have backed Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh's recent assertion that during Operation Sindoor the IAF shot down at least five Pakistani air force jets and one big airborne early warning aircraft.Amid denials by Pakistan, Tom Cooper, renowned Austria-based aerial warfare expert has said that what ACM Singh said was just a "confirmation of something that was more or less known since May", while also endorsing the latter's statement about the S-400 surface-to-air missile hitting targets at a distance of 300 km."We have seen evidence of not only five but even more Pakistani aircraft being shot down. We have also seen evidence for even more Pakistani aircraft being destroyed on the ground.

But there was no official confirmation from the IAF, not even from the govt of India. Therefore, this is a nice confirmation for something that was assessed already back in May," Cooper said in his interview to ANI on the Indian firepower that dominated the 72-hour limited war between India and Pakistan between May 7 night and May 10.Identifying the Pakistan early warning and control aircraft, which was brought down by the S-400 system, as a Saab 2000, the Austrian endorsed Singh's claim about the successful strike from a range of 300 km was a world record.

"It is the longest range confirmed shoot-down by a surface-to-air missile. This is a historic achievement," he said, lauding the extraordinary feat of the IAF as even the other instance recorded in recent Ukraine-Russia conflict was that of a shoot down at a distance of 200 km.He said, "This is a significant fact because we have seen IAF deploying its S-400 surface-to-air missile system very close to the border to Pakistan, so close that it was actually firing missiles from within the range of Pakistani army's artillery, which meant if it would stay, its presence of the firing unit in question would have been detected by Pakistanis too early, Pakistanis could have shelled the area in question, hit and destroyed this firing unit.

So it was quite a risky operation, actually."Tom Cooper, like another well-known military strategist John Spencer, had earlier said that Operation Sindoor marked India's decisive victory.