SOURCE: AFI
At a recent seminar hosted by the Indonesian Air Force University, focused on analyzing the May 2025 India-Pakistan air conflict, an Indonesian Air Force official presented a detailed slide outlining significant losses suffered by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) during India’s Operation Sindoor.
The seminar, attended by Captain (Indian Navy) Shiv Kumar, Defence Attaché at the Indian Embassy in Jakarta, highlighted the IAF’s tactical and operational success, with the slide detailing the destruction of six PAF fighter jets, two Saab-2000 Erieye Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft, a C-130 Hercules at Nur Khan Air Base, and various other assets. These revelations, corroborated by posts on X, underscore the IAF’s dominance and Pakistan’s air defense vulnerabilities during the four-day conflict.
The seminar, one of two organized by the Indonesian Air Force to study the India-Pakistan air war and draw lessons for Indonesia’s air power strategies, focused on Operation Sindoor, launched by India on May 7–10, 2025, in retaliation for a Pakistan-backed terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, on April 22, 2025, which killed 26 civilians. The IAF conducted precision strikes on 11 PAF airbases, including Nur Khan (Chaklala, Rawalpindi), Bholari, Sargodha, Rafiqui, and Jacobabad, using advanced munitions like BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, SCALP air-launched cruise missiles, and Harop loitering munitions.
According to a slide presented by an Indonesian Air Force official, shared on X by user @ranzblade45, the PAF suffered catastrophic losses, including:
- Six Fighter Jets: The destroyed aircraft included three JF-17 Thunder jets, two Mirage III/V variants, and one F-16 Block 52, with at least three being Jordanian-origin F-16A/B Block-15s recently acquired by Pakistan. These losses, confirmed by sources like idrw.org and air warfare historian Tom Cooper, occurred during air engagements and ground strikes at bases like Bholari, Jacobabad, and Sargodha.
- Two Saab-2000 Erieye AEW&C Aircraft: One was shot down by India’s S-400 air defense system at a distance of 314–350 km inside Pakistani airspace, marking a historic kill, while another was destroyed on the ground at Bholari Air Base by a BrahMos missile strike. Retired PAF Air Marshal Masood Akhtar confirmed the Bholari loss, noting that four BrahMos missiles targeted a hangar, killing Squadron Leader Usman Yousaf and four airmen.
- One C-130 Hercules: A C-130 transport aircraft, critical for PAF logistics, was destroyed at Nur Khan Air Base near Islamabad by a BrahMos NG missile strike, dealing a symbolic and operational blow.
- Other Assets: Over 30 missiles, including Chinese-made PL-15s and Fatah-II rockets, and more than 10 unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs), such as Wing Loong drones, were neutralized by India’s air defense systems, including the S-400, Akash, and MR-SAM (Barak-8).
The slide, which sparked significant discussion on X, emphasized the IAF’s ability to paralyze Pakistan’s air defense network, with satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies and KawaSpace showing extensive damage to hangars, runways, and radar installations at Bholari, Nur Khan, and other bases. A 60-foot-wide hole in a Bholari hangar and craters at Rahim Yar Khan and Sargodha underscored the precision and destructive power of IAF strikes.
The Indonesian Air Force’s analysis, as presented in the slide, highlighted the failure of Pakistan’s Chinese-supplied air defense systems, including the HQ-9 and YLC-8E radar, to counter IAF strikes. The destruction of a Chinese LY-80 system in Lahore and an HQ-9 in Malir, Karachi, by Harpy kamikaze drones further exposed vulnerabilities in Pakistan’s air defense architecture. The loss of two Saab-2000 Erieye AEW&C aircraft, critical for long-range surveillance and battle management, degraded Pakistan’s situational awareness by an estimated 20–30%, forcing the PAF into a defensive posture and prompting Pakistan to seek Chinese KJ-500 AEW&C systems as replacements.
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