Austrian military aviation analyst Tom Cooper’s latest estimation has revived the controversy over the actual aircraft lost by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) during the intense dog fights of Operation Sindoor in May of this year.
Speaking to Eurasian Times and backed up by articles on his validated defence forum contributions, Cooper revealed that the PAF’s real losses were likely greater than what the Indian Air Force (IAF) first confirmed and significantly more than what Islamabad has admitted. His conclusions are based on radar plots, AWACS recordings, and satellite images taken after the attacks. According to Cooper, the discovery corroborates the recent claim by the IAF of shooting down six Pakistani planes in four days, five of them fighter aircraft and one high-value reconnaissance plane.
“This has been approximately known since May,” Cooper told Eurasian Times, adding India’s S-400 long-range air defense system was decisive, engaging at more than 300 km range a possible new record for modern-day air combat.
India’s S-400: Daring but Revolutionary
Cooper went further to state that deploying the S-400 along the Line of Control (LoC) was a risk, with Pakistani artillery or aerial strikes in all probability targeting the batteries. Nevertheless, the system was purported to have been lethal, destroying PAF aircraft as well as forcing Pakistan to limit its operational envelope.
IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal A P Singh, in a formal press briefing on August 9, confirmed the six kills but declined to share further operational facts, suggesting certain facts are still classified.
The Operation Sindoor air fights were not merely a question of quantity — they revealed shifts in South Asia’s air combat environment. The effective use of precision missiles with long ranges and networked air defense showed that future conflicts could come as much down to integrated air systems as they do to the traditional dogfighting skills. It also pointed to the information warfare that goes with every modern military operation. Without independently confirmed battle damage assessments, each has its own narrative to sell — and worldwide opinion is as valuable as the actual battlefield result.