India’s air force shot down five Pakistani fighter jets and a large military aircraft during border clashes in early May, Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh said on Saturday in Bengaluru. The disclosure is the first official Indian account of aerial losses inflicted on Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, the four-day conflict that marked the neighbours’ most serious fighting in decades. Singh told an audience of serving officers and defence officials that most of the kills were made by the newly deployed Russian-built S-400 surface-to-air missile system, describing the shoot-down of the larger aircraft—likely an electronic-intelligence or airborne early-warning platform—at a range of about 300 km as “the largest ever recorded surface-to-air kill.” He displayed before-and-after satellite images of strikes on militant hubs in Bahawalpur and Muridke as well as damage to the Shahbaz Jacobabad airfield and other Pakistani bases. The air chief credited “clear political direction” and a high-technology mix for India’s success, saying long-range air-defence batteries kept Pakistani aircraft from approaching Indian airspace while BrahMos cruise missiles launched from Su-30MKI fighters were used in offensive roles. Indian officials also claim nine Pakistani airfields were rendered inoperable and multiple parked F-16s damaged. Pakistan’s military has yet to comment on the latest remarks but has previously denied that any of its aircraft were lost, asserting instead that it downed six Indian jets. The divergent accounts underscore the lingering tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals three months after the clashes.