Air chief marshal Amar Preet Singh praised National Security Advisor Ajit Doval for bringing different agencies and forces together during Operation Sindoor. Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Amar Preet Singh on Saturday said that after India’s precision strikes under Operation Sindoor on terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, many people close to him said “aur maarna tha,” meaning “you should have hit them more.”
“We were actually on a song that night. I hear from so many people. I don’t want to say that, but people very close to me all said ‘aur maarna tha’,” said Amar Preet Singh. He made the comments while addressing the 16th Air Chief Marshal LM Katre Memorial Lecture in Bengaluru on August 9. The air chief marshal also revealed that the Indian Air Force (IAF) shot down five Pakistani fighter jets along with a large aircraft, calling it India’s largest-ever recorded surface-to-air kill.
“We have an indication of at least one AWC in that AWC hangar, and a few F-16s, which are under maintenance there. We have at least five fighters confirmed killed and one large aircraft which could be either an aircraft or an AWC, which was taken at a distance of about 300 kilometres. This is actually the largest ever recorded surface-to-air kill that we can talk about,” he said. The operation also led to a significant number of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), drones, and some of their missiles falling within Indian territory.
Drawing on specific intelligence, Singh said the IAF decided to target the airfield. “The airfield was attacked, including the main building where planning takes place, which also sometimes served as the civil terminal. Regarding the Sukkur airbase, we struck the UAV hangar and the radar site,” he added. The air chief marshal praised National Security Advisor Ajit Doval for bringing different agencies and forces together during Operation Sindoor.
He said the military leaders carefully planned for all possible situations and how India should respond. Talking about the key lesson from the operation, Singh said, “The biggest takeaway of the operation has been the primacy of air warfare has come to the forefront once again. People have realised that air warfare is the first responder that any country has and air warfare is one which can actually react in a quick time, attack deep inside with precision and just achieve your objective without any collateral.”
