Speed, precision caught Pakoff-guard: Ex-IAF vice chief on Op Sindoor

PAkistan testament conceive twice before mount terrorist act against republic of india after the hard lessons it learned from Operation Sindoor exactly a year ago when the Indian armed forces launched swift and decisive action to punish the neighbour for its involvement in the Pahalgam terror attack, said former Indian Air Force vice chief Air Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari (retd), an insider with a ringside view of the 88-hour conflict.“The most important change Operation Sindoor brought to the India-Pakistan dynamic is that Islamabad will now be far more circumspect before attempting any mischief. It will think twice. We acted fast and practically got inside their decision-making cycle during the operation. The adversary was surprised by our speed, reach and clarity of objectives,” Tiwari said in an interview.Operation Sindoor marked New Delhi’s direct military response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killed. India launched the operation in the early hours of May 7, 2025 and struck terror and military installations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) before the ceasefire on the evening of May 10.The ongoing hostilities between Pakistan and Afghanistan appear to be a diversionary tactic by Islamabad to shift attention away from the losses it suffered during Operation Sindoor.“They are now trying to show the world that they have some military success on the Western side. Pakistan is also trying to project itself as a ‘responsible country’ by facilitating talks between the US and Iran. I don’t think it will change their mindset, but they will certainly not try anything silly with us. Operation Sindoor was a clear lesson for them… and they really couldn’t do much about it. It marked a new normal against terror,” he said.Indian forces bombed nine terror camps in Pakistan and PoK, killing at least 100 terrorists, and the IAF struck targets at 13 Pakistani airbases and military installations from May 7 to 10. The four-day military clash involved fighter jets, missiles, armed drones, and a fierce artillery duel.Tiwari enumerated the key takeaways from Operation Sindoor, often described as a defining moment in India’s counter-terror and deterrence strategy.“There are several takeaways but I will list the top three. First is the centrality of the air power. And when I say air power, it is not just the air force…I am also talking about the army, which used loitering munitions against enemy targets. Air power will be critical in future warfare too. The second takeaway would be how our robust air defence network punctured multiple waves of Pakistani aerial attacks on our military bases and civilian areas. Thirdly, each service fully projected its core capabilities for best battle outcomes,” said Tiwari, who was IAF’s vice chief until December 31, 2025.Pakistan lost as many as 12 to 13 aircraft, including fighter jets such as US-made F-16s and Chinese-origin JF-17s, to the air force’s precision strikes on ground and in the air during the military clash, according to the IAF.To be sure, there are also reports that India lost a few aircraft, and most senior military officials have not denied this.The IAF put its core strengths to good use during the operation, leveraging key capabilities inducted over the years including Rafale fighter jets, S-400 Triumf air defence systems, air-launched BrahMos cruise missiles and other precision strike weapons, he said.“Nothing evolves overnight. It’s an evolutionary process. The genesis of whatever weapons and systems we deployed and used goes back 10 to 15 years,’ Tiwari said.“That’s how it works in the technological domain. For a long time, we have believed that long-range strike capability is very important. We saw that during Operation Sindoor. When I say precision weapons, it’s not just a weapon itself. It’s the whole process, including the intelligence and the targeting… because it is meaningless to have a precision weapon if it goes in the wrong place. This entire ecosystem developed over many years, and worked out very well for us during Operation Sindoor.”In the early hours of May 7, the IAF struck two terror sites at Markaz Subhanallah in Bahawalpur and Markaz Taiba near Muridke, both in Pakistan’s Punjab province, while the army hit targets at seven places, including Mehmoona Joya in Sialkot, Sawai Nala and Syed Na Bilal in Muzaffarabad, Gulpur and Abbas in Kotli, Barnala in Bhimber, and Sarjal.In one of the counterstrikes on the night of May 7-8, Islamabad launched aerial attacks using drones and missiles at multiple towns and cities, including Awantipora, Srinagar, Jammu, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bathinda, Chandigarh, Pathankot, Phalodi, Suratgarh, Uttarlai, Nal and Bhuj. India’s air defence shield fended off the attacks.On May 9-10, the IAF struck military targets in Rafiqui, Murid, Chaklala, Rahim Yar Khan, Sukkur, Chunian, Pasrur, Sialkot, Skardu, Sargodha, Jacobabad, Bholari and Malir Cantt in Karachi.“I think we have done a great job. Building capabilities is still a work in progress. It will continue to evolve as new technologies come in. We need to invest more in space technologies to get true strategic independence. Both for surveillance and reconnaissance, as also for navigation and things like that. When I say space, I mean the entire ecosystem—not just satellites, but everything from ground hubs to space control. We must build the entire ecosystem, and a lot of work is already happening in that direction. We should see the results two to three years down the line,” Tiwari said.The armed forces also need to focus unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and counter-UAS technologies to boost battlefield capabilities, he said.“This is one area we need to develop further. It’s a cat-and-mouse game, and you need to stay ahead. Today you develop a system, tomorrow something new will come and defeat that capability. You will now need something to counter that. It’s a continuous process,” he said, adding that locally produced long-range weapons should also be a top priority.Building military industrial complexes, Tiwari said, is also critical for security and self-reliance. “It’s not just a weapon. You have to put it on the platform. You have to integrate. You must have the military industrial complex, the supply chain, sufficient surge capacity and everything else.”India hasn’t halted Sindoor; it’s an ongoing operation.“Pakistan is still on notice and we reserve the right to hit back hard if provoked. And at short notice,” Tiwari added.Regarding the IAF’s reported combat losses, he said, “It is something that will happen in operations. You cannot go into combat with zero-error syndrome. Everything may not work out for you as you have an adversary who is equally capable or a near peer. No country talks about these things as it gives an unfair advantage to the adversary. Confirming or denying whatever it is thinking straightaway translates into whether the tactics and weapons were useful at the ranges they were fired. This has operational and tactical implications that can be advantageous for the adversary. Pakistan has not confirmed anything either.”