US President Donald Trump is infamous for making “controversial” and “exaggerated” claims, a pattern that has persisted from his first term through his re-election in 2024.
India, for one, has been the subject of many such overhyped claims, ranging from military procurement details to diplomatic mediation.
In one such hyperbole, Trump on January 6, 2026, claimed that India ordered 68 Apache attack helicopters from the US.
Speaking at the House GOP Member Retreat, Trump said that India had contacted him to expedite the delivery of the Apaches that had been on order and delayed by five years.
“India ordered 68 Apaches, and Prime Minister Modi came to see me. Sir. May I see you, please? Yes,” he said, describing the interaction and purposely mocking the Indian leader.
A quick perusal of all military documents, official contracts, and delivery schedules would prove that India ordered 28, not 68 Apache helicopters. This means Trump conveniently more than doubled the number of helicopters that India ordered.
“India ordered Apache helicopters and didn’t get them for 5 years. PM Modi came to me and said ‘Sir can I please see you?’ and I said yes,” claims U.S. President Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/TNNUpznnjd
— Shashank Mattoo (@MattooShashank) January 6, 2026
The Indian Air Force signed a $3 billion contract in 2015 to acquire 22 AH-64E helicopters from Boeing, which also included the supply of 15 CH-47F Chinook helicopters. All the deliveries were completed by July 2020 during Trump’s first term as President.
Later, the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) ordered six additional AH-64E helicopters from Boeing for the Indian Army under an $800 million deal signed in February 2020 during the visit of former US President Donald Trump to India.
The deliveries of this follow-on order were expected by February 2024, but Boeing missed the deadline.
After the order faced delays of more than a year, the Indian Prime Minister flagged the issue during his meeting with Trump at the White House in February 2025.
However, that was one of the many military and defence-related agendas discussed in the meeting, which also saw Trump verbally offering India the F-35 Lightning II fighter jet.
It is widely known that the delivery of Apache was delayed due to a snag in production at Boeing’s Mesa production facility and supply-chain-related issues that had reportedly been aggravated by the global Coronavirus pandemic.
Additionally, in 2024, it was ascertained that India ranked relatively low in US priorities and allocation systems, indicating it was likely at the back of the line for receiving arms ordered from the US.
Boeing reportedly attempted to deliver the last three Apaches in November 2025 but had to turn back the cargo plane carrying the shipment due to Turkey’s denial of permission to use airspace, as reported by the EurAsian Times at the time.
Nonetheless, deliveries were attempted again and concluded in December 2025.
Delivering on the @POTUS and @PMOIndia joint statement, the arrival of the latest @boeing_in AH-64E Apache helicopters for the Indian Army @adgpi marks another step forward in the U.S.India Major Defense Partnership. This milestone reflects the reliable and growing… pic.twitter.com/LmVRKQKo5C
— U.S. Embassy India (@USAndIndia) December 17, 2025
Modi’s flagging of the delays and the number of Apaches ordered by India do not align with Trump’s claims, which have been referred to as a “gross exaggeration” by Indian analysts.
However, this is not the first time Trump has sparked controversy with his statements.
Trump’s Big, Fat Claims
In December 2025, Trump claimed that Indian Prime Minister Modi had agreed to stop buying Russian oil. At the time, the US President told reporters that PM Modi had promised to terminate India’s purchases “within a short period of time,” which he described as “a big stop.”
However, a representative for the Indian government responded to Trump’s comments by stating that talks were “ongoing” with the US administration, which had “shown interest in deepening energy co-operation with India”.
“Our consistent priority is to safeguard the interests of the Indian consumer in a volatile energy scenario. Our import policies are guided entirely by this objective,” the spokesperson reportedly said, debunking Trump’s exaggerated claims about the promise made by Modi. As of now, India has reportedly reduced oil imports from Russia, but it has not been completely stopped.
Last year in May, India and Pakistan fought a four-day intense conflict triggered by India’s ‘Operation Sindoor’ that sought to avenge the Pahalgam terror attack and destroy terrorist infrastructure inside the country and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
Trump made two claims that have either been outrightly rejected or not accepted by India.
First, Trump wrote on social media on May 10, 2025, that the two countries reached a “full and immediate ceasefire” following a “long night” of negotiations mediated by Washington. He later reiterated these claims in October 2025, saying, “If you look at India and Pakistan, they were ready to go at it. Seven planes were shot down. They are nuclear powers. I don’t want to say exactly what I said, but what I said was very effective. They stopped. And that was based on tariffs. It was based on trade.”
While Pakistan recognised Trump’s role in ending the war and nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize, India has consistently denied any third-party intervention and asserted that the ceasefire was achieved after discussions between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of both sides.
Second, Trump made unfounded claims about jets downed in the May 2025 Indo-Pakistan conflict. Interestingly, he started by saying five planes were downed, then seven, and finally said eight jets were shot down.
“I was in the midst of a trade deal with India and Pakistan, and then I read on the front page of a certain newspaper…I heard they were going to war. Seven planes were shot down, and the eighth was badly wounded. Eight planes were shot down essentially. I said, this is war, and they are going at it. They are two nuclear nations. I said, ‘I’m not going to make any trade deals with you guys unless you agree to peace,'” Trump said in November.
He did not say which aircraft he was referring to, but the global media has amplified Pakistan’s claims of downing several Indian fighter jets, including French Rafale (s).
India, on its part, claims destroying several Pakistani Air Force’s (PAF) military warplanes, including potentially a Saab-200 Eyrie AEW&C aircraft. IAF, on its part, has lost a Rafale aircraft, due to what officials say was a “high altitude technical glitch.”
Trump’s exaggerated claims don’t end here!
During his first term as American President, Trump claimed PM Modi had personally asked him to mediate on the Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan. However, India’s Ministry of External Affairs rejected the claims, stating that no such request was made, and reiterated that Kashmir is a bilateral issue with no room for third-party involvement.
Trump has signalled intervention in the high-stakes Kashmir issue since.
In addition to this, Trump mocked Modi in 2019 for funding a “library in Afghanistan,” implying it was useless and that India should contribute troops instead. The move belittled India’s development aid, and India rebutted it, emphasising that its contributions to Afghanistan’s reconstruction were significant and strategic.
Interestingly, just two years later, the US troops were expelled/withdrew from Afghanistan during the Taliban takeover.
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