The recent India-Pakistan conflict saw significant aerial engagements, leading to rare official admissions regarding losses by the Indian Air Force. Statements from senior Indian officials provide insight into both the scale of losses and the political-military dynamics that shaped the conflict, leading to such losses.Here are the exact quotes from four key Indian officials, each reflecting a different aspect of the official narrative, which gain significance due to the lack of any formal information on this issue of public importance.1) Air Marshal A.K. Bharti, Director General of Air Operations, May 11 press briefing“Losses are a part of combat…All our pilots are back home.”This statement, while brief, was in response to a question at the press conference on Operation Sindoor. It was the first official acknowledgement of losses suffered by the IAF on May 7 but without specifying numbers or types of aircraft. This is the template that has been followed by other officials thereafter. The IAF official normalised the fact of losses as an expected part of high-intensity combat, a line that has not been repeated by other officials.2) General Anil Chauhan, Chief of Defence Staff, interview to Bloomberg TV, May 31“What is important is that – not the jet being down, but why they were being down. …Absolutely incorrect [regarding six fighter jets lost]. That is not the information which I said is important. What is important is why they were down. That is more important for us. And what did we do after that. That is more important.”General Chauhan’s remarks are the most direct admission from a top Indian military official, confirming that IAF fighter jets were lost but he also refused to specify numbers. By shifting the focus from the losses themselves to the lessons learned and subsequent tactical changes, he tried to frame the narrative as one of adaptation and operational maturity.But his acceptance that the IAF was handicapped for the next two days in its flying operations was a major revelation by India’s top military official.India’s military confirmed for the first time that it lost an unspecified number of fighter jets in clashes with Pakistan in May.Anil Chauhan, chief of defense staff of the Indian Armed Forces, spoke to Bloomberg TV on Saturday, while attending the Shangri-La Dialogue in… pic.twitter.com/9y3GW6WJfn— Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) May 31, 20253) Captain (IN) Shiv Kumar, Defence Attaché to Indonesia, university seminar, June 10“I may not agree that we lost so many aircraft, but I do agree we did lose some aircraft. …The Indian Air Force lost fighter jets to Pakistan on the night of May 7, 2025 only because of the constraint given by the political leadership to not attack the military establishment or their air defences.”Captain Kumar’s remarks are unusually frank for an official setting, directly attributing the IAF’s losses to political directives that limited the scope of initial IAF strikes on May 7. This admission not only confirms losses but also highlights the influence of political control on military operations, a point that undermines the claims of the Modi government of having given complete operational freedom to the armed forces in Operation Sindoor.4) Defence secretary R.K, Singh, interview to CNBC-TV18, July 8“You have used the term Rafales in the plural, I can assure you that is absolutely not correct. …Pakistan suffered losses many times over India in both human and material terms and more than 100 terrorists.”The defence secretary’s comments seem to be aimed at countering both Pakistani claims and the narrative emerging from the Jakarta seminar. By denying the loss of multiple Rafale jets, he seeks to reinforce confidence in India’s military capabilities and decision-making. But in his denial, he also implicitly accepts that the IAF suffered losses on the night of May 7 in the conflict with Pakistan. In sum, these statements, taken together, reflect the limited flow of information in India’s official messaging on IAF losses in its clash with Pakistan. Unlike previous wars with Pakistan like in 1965 and 1971, and Kargil, this is the first time the Indian government has appeared reluctant to admit its losses.