But really and truly, this didnt change the conclusion of the situation at all.Totally agreed BuM was for local consumption and not a real military response. But the downing of 6 Indian fighter jets and the grounding of the Indian Air Force for two days (per their own admission) wasn’t a trivial matter. The Indians never used their Air Force after the initial battle and even by their own admission, fired their munitions on the 10th from extreme ranges.
Pakistan’s response was hampered by army dominated GHQ which turned a clear win on the 7th into an unnecessary mess.
It may have lead to a shift in doctrine, but the end result would have been the same.
The reality is downing of aircraft is relatively trivial, its expected, thats why these things exist. We have known the PAF has always been a tactically superior force, but celebrating stuff like aircraft kills really drags down the professional image of the force, thank god we did not do what we did for swift retort again.
Us harping on about Indian aircraft and potentially Indian Airforce being skittish would have been great- but really, what value would it bring? Being critical is important because it leads to improvement, patting ourselves on the back, ignoring the fire around us will let us get burnt however.



