# Post–World War II air-to-air combat losses

Air-to-air combat is the engagement of combat aircraft in warfare in which primarily fixed-wing aircraft attempt to destroy enemy aircraft using guns, rockets and missiles. The Korean War saw the greatest amount of air-to-air combat since World War II. During the war the United States claimed to have shot down around 700 fighters. After the war the U.S. Air Force reviewed its figures in an investigation code-named Sabre Measure Charlie and downgraded the kill ratio of the North American F-86 Sabre against the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 by half from 14:1 to 7:1. One of the factors inflating US numbers was that most dogfights took place over enemy-controlled area. The only way to confirm kills was through gun camera photography. USAF pilots were credited with a kill if the gun camera showed their guns striking the enemy aircraft even if no one actually saw it go down. However, Soviet Air Force kill claims were also highly exaggerated, based upon inherent flaws in their film grading procedures. For instance, the S-13 gun camera was not aligned with either the gunsight or either cannons' ballistics. It ran only while the firing buttons were depressed. Film graders commonly included unit commanders and political commisars who would confirm a "kill"—sometimes even if one had not been claimed by a pilot—when the camera's crosshairs touched the target for two movie frames. During the first 16 months of combat Soviet V-VS units claimed 218 F-86s destroyed when only 36 (35 to the two elite IADs and one to the 50th IAD) had been lost. This results in a 600 per cent inflation rate in victory credits over actual Sabres destroyed. However, these figures are complicated by the fact that the Americans routinely attributed combat losses to landing accidents and other causes.
The Vietnam War saw a move away from cannon fire to air-to-air missiles. Although US forces maintained air supremacy throughout the war, there were still occasional dogfights and US and North Vietnamese aces. The North Vietnamese side claimed the Vietnam People's Air Force had 17 aces throughout the war, including Nguyễn Văn Cốc, who is also the top ace of Vietnam War with 9 kills: seven acknowledged by the United States Air Force.
During the 1947 conflict over Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian Air Force did not engage the Pakistan Air Force in air-to-air combat; however, it did provide effective transport and close air support to the Indian Army troops.
On 10 April 1959, an Indian English Electric Canberra was shot down while performing a Reconnaissance mission over Rawalpindi. The Canberra was shot down by a Pakistani F-86 Sabre flown by Flight Lieutenant M Younis of the No. 15 Squadron. The two crew members of the Canberra ejected and were later arrested by Pakistani authorities, this incident also marked the first aerial victory of the Pakistan Air Force.
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 was the first time the Indian Air Force actively engaged an enemy air force. By the time the conflict had ended, India had lost between 65 and 75 aircraft while Pakistan lost 20 aircraft.
During the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971, the Indian Air Force lost 45 aircraft while the Pakistani Air Force lost 75.
During the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–88, there were nearly 1,000 air-to-air engagements between Iran and Iraq, including the only known instances of helicopters dogfighting and shooting down other helicopters. The Falklands War of 1982 witnessed air combat between Argentine and British military aircraft. The Falkland Islands' runways were short and thus unable to support fighter jets, forcing Argentina to launch fighters from the mainland, which had an adverse effect on their loiter time. The Argentine forces lost 23 aircraft in air-to-air combat, out of a total of 134 fixed wing aircraft and helicopters lost during the conflict. During the 1990–91 Persian Gulf War 33 of Iraqi Armed Forces' 750 fixed wing aircraft were claimed as downed (23 were confirmed), compared to 14 coalition aircraft claimed as downed (4 losses are confirmed, one F/A-18 Hornet and three UAVs).

## Aircraft lost to air-to-air combat

| Conflict | Air Force | Aircraft lost to air-to-air combat |
| US incursions into Yugoslav airspace (1946) | USAAF | 2 |
| Indonesian National Revolution | Royal Indian Air Force | 2 |
| Arab–Israeli War (1948–1949) | Royal Air Force | 5 |
| Arab–Israeli War (1948–1949) | Israeli Air Force | 7 (Western claim); 0-1 (Israeli claim) |
| Arab–Israeli War (1948–1949) | Royal Egyptian Air Force | 15 |
| Arab–Israeli War (1948–1949) | Syrian Air Force | 2 |
| Korean War (1950–1953) | PLAAF North Korean Air Force Soviet Air Defence Forces | 335 (all causes USSR claim); 399(PLAAF claim) & 270 NKAF (US claim) |
| Korean War (1950–1953) | US aircraft | 757 (US Air Force only, 139 in air-to-air combat, 305 "unknown", 472 "other losses"), 1,200 (USSR claimed kills), 85 (PRC claimed kills) |
| Korean War (1950–1953) | UN Coalition aircraft | 197 (Soviet claim), 139 (UN claim) |
| Korean War (1950–1953) | South Korean Air Force | 135 |
| US incursions into Soviet airspace (1950–1970) | US aircraft | 16 |
| US incursions into Soviet airspace (1950–1970) | Soviet Air Defence Forces | 3 |
| Catalina affair | Swedish Air Force | 2 |
| 1953 Avro Lincoln shootdown incident | Royal Air Force | 1 |
| Air battle over Merklín | USAFE | 1 |
| Bombing of Plaza de Mayo (1955) | Argentine Naval Aviation | 1 |
| Suez Crisis (1956) | Egypt Air Force | 7–9 |
| Suez Crisis (1956) | Israeli Air Force | 1 |
| Suez Crisis (1956) | Royal Air Force | 1 |
| Secret electronic surveillance missions | US Navy | 2 |
| Permesta Rebellion | CIA/AUREV | 1 |
| Second Taiwan Strait Crisis | PLAAF | 32 (ROC claim); 5 (PRC claim) |
| Second Taiwan Strait Crisis | ROCAF | 14 (PRC claim); 3 (ROC claim) |
| 1959 Canberra shootdown | Pakistan Air Force | 0 |
| 1959 Canberra shootdown | Indian Air Force | 1 |
| Vietnam War (1959–1975) | Vietnam People's Air Force | 131 (North Vietnam claim); 195 (US claim) |
| Vietnam War (1959–1975) | US aircraft | 128 (US Claim), 266 (North Vietnam claim) |
| Vietnam War (1959–1975) | Republic of Vietnam Air Force | 72 |
| Taiwanese incursion into Burma airspace | Republic of China Air Force | 1 |
| First Iraqi–Kurdish War | Iraqi Air Force | 2 |
| Dutch–Indonesian Conflict | Indonesian Air Force | 1 |
| Project Dark Gene (1960–79) | Soviet Air Force | 1 |
| Project Dark Gene (1960–79) | Imperial Iranian Air Force | 6 |
| Bay of Pigs Invasion | Brigade 2506 | 10 (Confirmed) |
| Six-Day War (1967) | Israeli Air Force Israeli Air Force | 12 (Israeli claim); 20 (ACIG claim) |
| Six-Day War (1967) | Egypt Air Force Syrian Air Force Royal Jordanian Air Force | 64–72 |
| Indo-Pakistani air war of 1965 | Indian Air Force | 60-75 |
| Indo-Pakistani air war of 1965 | Pakistan Air Force | 20 |
| War of Attrition (1967-1970) | Egyptian Air Force Soviet Air Defence Forces | 60 (Egyptian claim);113 (Israeli claim) 4-5 (Soviet MiG-21MFs) |
| War of Attrition (1967-1970) | Israeli Air Force | 4 (Israeli claim) |
| Football War | Air Force of El Salvador | 3 |
| Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 | Indian Air Force | 45 |
| Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 | Pakistan Air Force | 75 |
| Turkish invasion of Cyprus | Turkish Air Force | 1 (Greek claim) |
| Yom Kippur War (1973) | Israeli Air Force | 5 (Israeli claim) |
| Yom Kippur War (1973) | Egyptian Air Force Syrian Air Force | 277 (Israeli claim) |
| Egyptian–Libyan War (1977) | Libyan Air Force | 4–5 |
| Egyptian–Libyan War (1977) | Egypt Air Force | 1 |
| Iranian and Soviet airspace incursions (1970s) | Imperial Iranian Army Aviation + IIAF | 2 + 3 |
| Iranian and Soviet airspace incursions (1970s) | Soviet Air Force | 1 |
| Soviet–Afghan War | Afghan National Army Air Corps | 8 |
| Soviet–Afghan War | Pakistan Air Force | 1 |
| Soviet–Afghan War | Islamic Republic of Iran Army Aviation | 2 |
| Soviet–Afghan War | Mojahedin | 4 |
| Nicaraguan Revolution | Nicaraguan Air Force | 2 |
| Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988) | Iraqi Aircraft | 234 (confirmed) |
| Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988) | Iranian Aircraft | 73 (confirmed) |
| Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988) | Soviet Air Force | 3 (Iranian claim); 0 (Soviet claim) |
| Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988) | Syrian Air Force | 3 |
| Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988) | Algerian Government aircraft | 1 |
| Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988) | Turkish Air Force | 1 |
| South African Border War | South African Air Force | 1 |
| South African Border War | National Air Force of Angola | 2 |
| US Freedom of Navigation operations near Libya (1980–1989) | Libyan Air Force | 4 |
| Salvadoran Civil War | FMLN supply aircraft | 1 |
| Falklands War | Argentine Naval Aviation/Argentine Air Force | 23 |
| Falklands War | Army Air Corps | 1 |
| 1982 Royal Air Force Jaguar shootdown incident | Royal Air Force | 1 |
| 1982 Lebanon War | Syrian Air Force | 82–86 (Israeli claim) |
| 1982 Lebanon War | Israeli Air Force | 1 (Israeli claim); 42 (Syrian claim); 3 (ACIG claim) |
| Sri Lankan Civil War (1983–2009) | Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam | 1 |
| Tanker War (1984–1988) | Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force | 1 (Iranian claim) 2 (Saudi claim) |
| Persian Gulf War (1990–1991) | United States Navy | 4 (US claim); 12 (Iraqi claim) |
| Persian Gulf War (1990–1991) | Royal Air Force | 1 (Iraqi claim) |
| Persian Gulf War (1990–1991) | Italian Air Force | 1 (Iraqi claim) |
| Persian Gulf War (1990–1991) | Royal Saudi Air Force | 1 (Iraqi claim) |
| Persian Gulf War (1990–1991) | Iraqi Air Force | 23 (Iraqi claim); 44 (Coalition claim) |
| Iraqi no-fly zones enforcement | US aircraft | 3 |
| Iraqi no-fly zones enforcement | Iraqi Air Force | 5 |
| Croatian War of Independence (1991–1995) | Italian Army | 1 |
| 1992 Venezuelan coup d'état attempts | Bolivarianos | 3 |
| Operation Deny Flight | Republika Srpska Air Force | 5 |
| Cenepa War (1995) | Ecuadorian Air Force | 1 (confirmed), 2 (Ecuadorian claim) |
| Aegean dispute (1996) | Turkish Air Force | 1 |
| Eritrean–Ethiopian War (1998–2000) | Eritrean Air Force | 2–6 |
| Eritrean–Ethiopian War (1998–2000) | Ethiopian Air Force | Up to 7 |
| NATO bombing of Yugoslavia | Yugoslav Air Force | 5 + 1 heavily damaged, later destroyed on the ground |
| NATO bombing of Yugoslavia | NATO aircraft | 1 + 1 Tomahawk |
| 1999 Pakistan Breguet 1150 Atlantic shootdown | Pakistan Navy | 1 |
| 2001–2002 India–Pakistan standoff | Indian Air Force | 1 |
| 2008 Georgian drone shootdowns | Georgian Air Force | 1 |
| Iraq War (2003–2011) | Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force | 1 |
| War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) | United States Air Force | 1 |
| Syrian Civil War | Syrian Air Force | 7 |
| Syrian Civil War | Russian Air Force | 2 |
| Syrian Civil War | "Pro-Syria regime" forces | 3 |
| Syrian Civil War | Turkish Air Force | 1 |
| Iran–Israel proxy conflict | Hezbollah UAVs | 2 |
| War in Donbass | Ukrainian Air Force | 1 (Ukrainian claim) |
| Libyan civil war (2014–2020) | Turkish Air Force | 1 |
| Yemeni civil war (2014–present) | Houthis | 4 (Arab Coalition claim) |
| 2016 Turkish coup attempt | Peace at Home Council | 2 |
| Insurgency in Balochistan | Iran | 1 |
| Iran–Israel proxy conflict | Iran | 1 |
| 2019 India–Pakistan border skirmishes | Indian Air Force | 1 (1 Mig-21 confirmed), 1 (1 Su-30MKI claimed by Pakistan) |
| 2019 India–Pakistan border skirmishes | Pakistani Air Force | 1 (F-16 claimed by India) |
| Second Nagorno-Karabakh War | Armenian Air Force | 1 (Armenian claim) |
| 2021 Israel-Palestine conflict | Hamas | 1 |
| Russian invasion of Ukraine | Ukrainian Air Force | 11 (as of 4 August 2023) |
| Russian invasion of Ukraine | Ukrainian Naval Aviation | 1 |
| Russian invasion of Ukraine | United States Air Force | 1 (MQ-9 Reaper UAV) |