ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Air Force Chief Air Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Babar Sidhu on Thursday said the PAF was ready to support the Belarus Air Force (BAF) with basic to tactical level training, the military’s media wing said, as both sides discussed military and air cooperation.

Sidhu met a high-level defense delegation led by BAF and Air Defense Commander Major General Andrei Yulianovich Lukyanovich, the Pakistani military’s media wing said.

“During the meeting, Chief of the Air Staff [..] assured that PAF is committed to extending full support for the basic to tactical-level training of pilots and maintenance crews for capacity building of BAF,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing, said in a statement.

“This includes the initiation of high-level exchange programs aimed at fostering professional development between the two air forces.”

Lukyanovich expressed a strong interest in learning from the PAF’s extensive operational experience in wartime operations and conveyed the BAF’s eagerness to draw lessons from the PAF’s combat-tested doctrines and training programs, the ISPR said.

The PAF says it shot down six Indian Air Force jets on the night of May 6 while repelling Indian air attacks. India’s defense chief recently admitted the country lost fighter jets to Pakistan. However, he denied six jets were shot down.

The meeting takes place a day after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Belarusian Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Victor Khrenin in Islamabad, where the two discussed bilateral defense and technology ties.

Sharif visited Belarus in April during which both countries signed a roadmap for military-technical cooperation from 2025 to 2027, along with multiple agreements in trade, defense and industrial collaboration.