Operation Sindoor: India Strikes Terroist Camps Inside Pakitsan

Operation SINDOOR: The Rise of Aatmanirbhar Innovation in National Security​

India’s growing technological self-reliance​


Introduction

Operation SINDOOR emerged as a calibrated military response to an evolving pattern of asymmetric warfare, one that increasingly targets unarmed civilians along with military personnel. The terrorist attack on tourists in Pahalgam in April 2025 served as grim reminder of this shift. India’s response was deliberate, precise, and strategic. Without crossing the Line of Control or international boundary, Indian forces struck terrorist infrastructure and eliminated multiple threats. However, beyond tactical brilliance, what stood out was the seamless integration of indigenous hi-tech systems into national defence. Whether in drone warfare, layered air defence, or electronic warfare, Operation SINDOOR marks a milestone in India’s journey towards technological self-reliance in military operations.

Air Defence Capabilities: Tech as the First Line of Protection

On the night of 07-08 May 2025, Pakistan attempted to engage a number of military targets in Northern and Western India including Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Nal, Phalodi, Uttarlai, and Bhuj, using drones and missiles. These were neutralised by the Integrated Counter UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) Grid and Air Defence systems.

Air Defence systems detect, track, and neutralise threats using a network of radars, control centres, artillery, and both aircraft- and ground-based missiles.
On the morning of May 8, the Indian Armed Forces targeted Air Defence Radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan. An Air Defence system at Lahore was neutralised.

PERFORMANCE OF SYSTEMS

As part of Operation SINDOOR, the following were used:
  • Battle-proven AD (Air Defence) systems like the Pechora, OSA-AK and LLAD guns (Low-level air defence guns).
  • Indigenous systems such as the Akash, which demonstrated stellar performance
AKASH is a Short Range Surface to Air Missile system to protect vulnerable areas and vulnerable points from air attacks. The AKASH Weapon System can simultaneously engage Multiple Targets in Group Mode or Autonomous Mode. It has built in Electronic Counter-Counter Measures (ECCM) features. The entire weapon system has been configured on mobile platforms.

India’s Air Defence Systems, combining assets from the Army, Navy, and primarily the Air Force, performed with exceptional synergy. These systems created an impenetrable wall, foiling multiple attempts by Pakistan to retaliate.

The Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS) of the Indian Air Force brought all these elements together, providing the net-centric operational capability vital for modern warfare.

Offensive Actions with Pinpoint Accuracy

India's offensive strikes targeted key Pakistani airbases- Noor Khan and Rahimyar Khan with surgical precision. Loitering munitions were used to devastating effect, each finding and destroying high-value targets, including enemy radar and missile systems.

Loitering munitions also known as "suicide drones" or "kamikaze drones", are weapons systems that can hover or circle a target area, searching for a suitable target before attacking.
All strikes were executed without loss of Indian assets, underscoring the effectiveness of our surveillance, planning, and delivery systems. The use of modern indigenous technology, from long-range drones to guided munitions, made these strikes highly effective and politically calibrated.

Indian Air Force bypassed and jammed Pakistan’s Chinese-supplied air defence systems, completing the mission in just 23 minutes, demonstrating India’s technological edge.

Evidence of Neutralized Threats

Operation SINDOOR also produced concrete evidence of hostile technologies neutralized by Indian systems:

  • Pieces of PL-15 missiles (of Chinese origin)
  • Turkish-origin UAVs, named "Yiha" or "YEEHAW"
  • Long-range rockets, quadcopters and commercial drones
These were recovered and identified, showing that despite Pakistan's attempts to exploit advanced foreign-supplied weaponry, India’s indigenous air defence and electronic warfare networks remained superior.

Performance of Systems: Air Defence Measures of the Indian Army

On May 12, Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai, Director General Military Operations, in the Operation SINDOOR press briefing highlighted the excellent performance of a mix of legacy and modern systems:

Preparedness and Coordination:

Since precise strikes on terrorists were conducted without crossing the Line of Control or International Boundary, it was anticipated Pakistan's response would come from across the border.

  • A unique blend of Counter Unmanned Aerial Systems, Electronic Warfare assets, and Air Defence Weapons from both Army and Air Force
  • Multiple defensive layers from the International Boundary inward:
  1. Counter Unmanned Aerial Systems
  2. Shoulder-Fired Weapons
  3. Legacy Air Defence Weapons
  4. Modern Air Defence Weapon Systems
This multi-tier defence prevented Pakistan Air Force attacks on our airfields and logistic installations during the night of May 9-10. These systems, built over the last decade with continuous government investment, proved to be force multipliers during the operation. They played a crucial role in ensuring that both civilian and military infrastructure across India remained largely unaffected during enemy retaliation attempts.

ISRO’s contribution: At an event on May 11, ISRO Chairman V Narayanan mentioned that At least 10 satellites are continuously working round-the-clock for the strategic purpose to ensure the safety and security of the citizens of the country. To ensure the safety of the country, the nation has to serve through its satellites. It has to monitor its 7,000 km seashore areas. It has to monitor the entire Northern part continuously. Without satellite and drone technology, the country can’t achieve that.

The Business of Drone Power: A Rising Indigenous Industry

The Drone Federation India (DFI), is a premier industry body representing over 550 drone companies and 5500 drone pilots. DFI’s vision is to make India a global drone hub by 2030, and it promotes the design, development, manufacturing, adoption and export of Indian drone and counter-drone technology worldwide. DFI enables ease of doing business, promotes the adoption of drone technology, and hosts several programs like Bharat Drone Mahotsav. Some companies involved in the drone space are:

  • Alpha Design Technologies (Bengaluru): Partnered with Israel’s Elbit Systems to build SkyStriker.
  • Tata Advanced Systems offers a full range of integrated solutions across Defence & Security and has served as a trusted partner to India's armed forces for over six decades
  • Paras Defence & Space Technologies operates within the Defence and Space segments, distinguished by Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured (IDDM) capabilities
  • IG Drones is a Drone Technology Company for manufacturing and R & D of Drones specialized in defence and other industry applications along with provider of drone related services like drone surveying, mapping & inspection by industry experts. The company has partnered with Indian Army, Government of India , multiple State Governments, among others.
 
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screambowl said:
I thought Astra Mk2 would have better RCS handling. If in case Pakistan goes for SEAD systems like AGM88G kind of which has a standoff range of 300km , the you would need atleast Astra Mk2 on LCA. When they fly low then range automatically reduces for an AAM.

Pakistanis may increase the standoff distance. While employing drones as cover.
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Do they have AGM88? Iirc most US export customers of the weapon have only the 80-100 km version of it? Not sure if US would sell the 300 km version to them.
 
Parthu said:
They plan to induct J-35 in about 2 years, not 5 years. In 5 years, they would have become largely proficient in operating it.

The J-35 will bring an ability to comfortably penetrate Indian airspace - as long as they manage to exploit any gaps in our AD. However if they try to penetrate when our IADS is still functioning, I'm pretty confident that our network is capable of bringing it down (long-wavelength radars to detect & pass info on to multiple FCRs).

As things stand however, the J-10C+PL15 combo is not far behind the Rafale+Meteor combo in terms of BVR capabilities. While Meteor still holds a significant kinematic advantage (ramjet vs dual-pulse rocket), once you factor in our restrictive ROEs the PAF actually holds certain advantages that come with initiative. But in purely aerial engagements, the J-35 will tilt the look-first/shoot-first advantage completely in PAF's favour. So yes, IAF will face a severe disadvantage once that bird becomes operational. And as things stand, they will continue to hold that decisive advantage in this department for a good 10-15 years (till whenever AMCA becomes operational).

I've said it before, and I still stand by it:

MMRCA 2.0 - Updates and Discussions

www.strategicfront.org www.strategicfront.org

This is a significant capability gap that we must seek to plug via a G2G deal, but in the meantime there are technical & political objectives we must meet. Like the induction of significantly more AEW & COMJOM assets, and the political decision to target & disable Pak military assets through SEAD/DEAD & taking out tactical airpower while it's still on the ground through missile attacks BEFORE going for the terrorist camps.

We already have the precedent of PAF coming to the aid of & retaliating on behalf of terror targets (tbh, we'd have that precedent since 2019) so it would be prudent to address PAF first before going after terrorists in future. Following the ceasefire, we've made several statements to the tune of "we will not treat Pak military as being different to terrorist assets".

Hope we live by that the next time there's a terrorist attack of the scale that requires military retaliation*, otherwise the GOI through restrictive ROEs is simply setting the IAF up to fail.

* If my hunch is right, that's not far away. Pak (on the instructions of China) wants to drag us into a long, protracted conventional war (if you ask me, that is why we made the call to target their nuclear infrastructure to bring about the ceasefire early). They have an endless supply of radicalized recruits willing & happy to die, so they're the perfect cannon fodder for the PRC to keep us occupied on the Western front.
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If and when China attacks Taiwan they will make Pak do a Pahalgam type attack maybe even in Indian cities which will force us to go to war with them.
 
Parthu said:
They plan to induct J-35 in about 2 years, not 5 years. In 5 years, they would have become largely proficient in operating it.

The J-35 will bring an ability to comfortably penetrate Indian airspace - as long as they manage to exploit any gaps in our AD. However if they try to penetrate when our IADS is still functioning, I'm pretty confident that our network is capable of bringing it down (long-wavelength radars to detect & pass info on to multiple FCRs).

As things stand however, the J-10C+PL15 combo is not far behind the Rafale+Meteor combo in terms of BVR capabilities. While Meteor still holds a significant kinematic advantage (ramjet vs dual-pulse rocket), once you factor in our restrictive ROEs the PAF actually holds certain advantages that come with initiative. But in purely aerial engagements, the J-35 will tilt the look-first/shoot-first advantage completely in PAF's favour. So yes, IAF will face a severe disadvantage once that bird becomes operational. And as things stand, they will continue to hold that decisive advantage in this department for a good 10-15 years (till whenever AMCA becomes operational).

I've said it before, and I still stand by it:

MMRCA 2.0 - Updates and Discussions

www.strategicfront.org www.strategicfront.org

This is a significant capability gap that we must seek to plug via a G2G deal, but in the meantime there are technical & political objectives we must meet. Like the induction of significantly more AEW & COMJOM assets, and the political decision to target & disable Pak military assets through SEAD/DEAD & taking out tactical airpower while it's still on the ground through missile attacks BEFORE going for the terrorist camps.

We already have the precedent of PAF coming to the aid of & retaliating on behalf of terror targets (tbh, we'd have that precedent since 2019) so it would be prudent to address PAF first before going after terrorists in future. Following the ceasefire, we've made several statements to the tune of "we will not treat Pak military as being different to terrorist assets".

Hope we live by that the next time there's a terrorist attack of the scale that requires military retaliation*, otherwise the GOI through restrictive ROEs is simply setting the IAF up to fail.

* If my hunch is right, that's not far away. Pak (on the instructions of China) wants to drag us into a long, protracted conventional war (if you ask me, that is why we made the call to target their nuclear infrastructure to bring about the ceasefire early). They have an endless supply of radicalized recruits willing & happy to die, so they're the perfect cannon fodder for the PRC to keep us occupied on the Western front.
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Do you think Su57 if bought can counter their J35 in BVRM (that is if Su57 comes with R37M and Russkis allow us to integrate Astra Mk2 on it)?
 
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Hydra said:
Its just procuring weapons off the shelf, if diplomacy didn't work Pakistan may get things on time just like Ukraine manage.
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They did that and failed. Now, if Pak is to fight India, they need top-of-the-line stuff like PAC-3 and F-35 or Rafale. And we are not planning on staying stagnant either.
 
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jk007 said:
I think Modi + doval did not want long drawn war.....remember, Russia is fighting Ukraine for many years.

Lets trust Modi.

@randomradio would those second hand m2000s from qatar have fired any of the missiles used in operation sindhoor?
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Based on what Hellfire said, had Pak not attempted to bluff with nukes, we would have taken out the PAF by today. But other powers intervened due to the Kirana incident. Ah, well, you can't win at everything. The op is still on though, let's see if Pak gives us a second chance to take their air farce out.

Don't think we have any Qatari M2000s.
 
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HariPrasad said:
May be on our won platform. Airbus made in India at Vadodara Facility.



out of 2.5 front, desi 0.5 front seems to be silenced. Pak is reduced to Half front. So effectively, 1.5 front left.
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Don't underestimate Pak. Until we regain complete superiority over them in air power (by that i mean 3:1 numbers, more number of AWACS with better range and capability, more EW aircraft, more stealth aircraft, etc) they are a full front threat.
 
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tutioton said:
Have one question, When we finally start producing Mk2 and when integrated with virupaksha/uttam radar and gandiva, will it be consider better than the Rafale?

I know purely from cost standpoint Tejas is better because it will be const around 1/4 or 1/3 of a Rafale.
But If we consider the overall scenario i.e radar, armaments, rcs, hud, avionics etc which would be better?

Main problem seems to be that it is very costly to integrate or armaments into Rafale because lack of source code and overcharging by Dassault.
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I think Mk2 will reach production in 2029 maybe 2028. Hopefully we seal the GE414 engine deal soon. Virupaksha with Gandiva on Su 30 MKI UPG will probably start happening in 2028 and will go on until early 2030s. @Rajput Lion @randomradio any chance of these timelines being expedited by GOI? We need to enhance our air power asap.
 
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Rajput Lion said:
The real combat is not like that a single MKI UPG. is sent to intercept a single J-35 and J-35 sees MKI first and shoots first. Real combat isn't like that. It's a package vs package thing. So while one MKI UPG. lights up on J-35's radar, there would be another MKI from another vector doing high PRF in LPI mode from another vector. J-35 with those twin-tails won't be VLO from all-aspects so the data would then get passed to the lead MKI UPG. which now uses cued search from his IRST & GaN AESA radar based upon uplinked data from a friendly. Result: MKI UPG. sees the supposed unseen and destroys it.

This is just one scenario that I gave you. Talking about bomb-truck, well! In this latest conflict, it's was MKI with BrahMos-A that brought Pak down to its knees in total 'shock & awe' fashion. But as all OSINT reports have said, MKI was also our MVP of aerial combat. Yes, it's that damn good.

Regarding Su-57, it's an aweome jet and the world will find it soon.
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What if the number field is leveled ?
 
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randomradio said:
Based on what Hellfire said, had Pak not attempted to bluff with nukes, we would have taken out the PAF by today. But other powers intervened due to the Kirana incident. Ah, well, you can't win at everything. The op is still on though, let's see if Pak gives us a second chance to take their air farce out.

Don't think we have any Qatari M2000s.
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My question was hypothetical - had we bought Qatari m2000s, would they have capability to fire any of the weapons used in operation sindhoor?
 
randomradio said:
Possibly. But they need to offer it to Pak and it needs to operate at the same level as the Turkish version.
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The turks have the Hisar AD and Siper AD.
1747239559250.jpeg

1747239607443.jpeg

The tech seems quite potent. But they are only as good as our Barak 8. Although I would love something like Hisar AD. It has eo targetting so can take out stealth aircrafts.
 
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RationalGuy said:
I've read some Chinese analysts on reddit who also said French and the West will blame poor training of Indian pilots rather than their equipment being mediocre in front of Chinese technology.
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Tbf the rafales were outgunned simply because they weren't carrying the meteor. The difference was that we have no awacs as well as shorter bvr missiles. Our airforce was technically inferior to the Pakistanis. There's only so much the rafales can do considering they had to do the riskiest part of the operation and they were themselves handicapped. We need to order more rafales and indigenise it and integrate indian and Israeli munitions. We need 20 AEWCS with S band operation and cooperative targetting atleast. This is a priority that needs to be expedited. We also need to order the 85 mki's in super sukhoi configuration and get second hand mirages and mig 29 and integrate with astra mk1 and mk2 atleast.
 
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