Director General of Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry recently sought to counter the recent remarks by Indian Air Force Chief Amar Preet Singh that at least a dozen Pakistani military aircraft, including F-16 jets, were destroyed or damaged in Indian strikes during Operation Sindoor.
Chaudhry said in an interview with Bloomberg that his country did not lose any aircraft during the military clashes with India and added that “Pakistan has never tried to play with figures and facts."
He claimed that the Chinese military platforms owned by Pakistan did “exceptionally well” against India and hinted at the possibility of acquiring more military platforms.
“We are open to all sorts of technology,” he said and endorsed the Chinese platforms saying, “Of course, lately, recent Chinese platforms, they’ve demonstrated exceptionally well,” in what could be construed as a statement hinting at the possibility of acquiring more such technology and platforms.
China is the principal arms supplier of Pakistan, with the country providing 80 per cent of the weapons owned by Islamabad. The country has procured a wide range of advanced equipment from China, including J-10C and JF-17 fighters (the latter co-produced with China), Type 054A/P frigates for the Navy, HQ-9 and HQ-16 air defence systems, precision-guided munitions, drones, and advanced surface-to-air missiles.
However, Chaudhry claimed that the strategy of Pakistan has always been to induct the most effective, efficient and economic platforms and technology while refusing to comment on whether Islamabad is favouring China in arms procurement.
According to him, Pakistan is not engaged in an arms race with India as Islamabad has only a "fraction" of the military budget of New Delhi. “We don’t have the luxury of unlimited money at our disposal,” he added.
