Operation Sindoor Was ‘Non-Contact Warfare’, Says CDS Gen. Anil Chauhan
Operation Sindoor that India launched against Pakistan on 7 May was unprecedented in a way that both adversaries “did not see each other”, and therefore it can be called the first of its kind “non-contact warfare”, Chief of Defense Staff General Anil Chauhan said Tuesday. “Operations Sindoor is non-contact warfare. We never saw each other,” the CDS said during the launch of a report on India’s foreign policy by ORF.
He said, “It (Operation Sindoor) was a network kind of war. So we had an air defence, a communications network, an air defence network and a rudimentary counter-reverse grid, which we tried to put in place before the operation broke out, which gave us a huge kind of picture for better situational awareness and better transparency.”
India launched Operation Sindoor in order to give a kinetic response to Pakistan for their alleged role in the killing of 26 innocent tourists in Kashmir’s Pahalgam region on April 22. The operation went on from 7 to 10 May.
However, the CDS once again reiterated Tuesday that India has only put a “pause” on Operation Sindoor and not called it off completely.
“We are still at a pause … We are still mobilised,” said Chauhan.
Also Read: Op Sindoor: 96 Hours — When India Hit Pakistan's Deep State, Triggered US, And China Watched
The CDS, who was speaking at the closed-door event, also said that Operation Sindoor was a multi-domain operation carried out over land, air and maritime domains, supplemented by cyber, space and electromagnetic spectrum.
He highlighted, therefore, that for future military operations, India has to be prepared for both “old and new kind of warfare”.
Last week, while addressing the Indian industry, the Deputy Chief of Army Lt Gen Rahul R. Singh said, during Operation Sindoor, India faced not just Pakistan but also China and Turkey.
In response to that remark, the CDS said at ORF that despite their help to Pakistan, there were “no activities” that were detected by India on the China border.
However, the CDS did highlight the fact that in the past five years Pakistan has acquired almost 70-80% of its weapons and equipment from China.
CDS Anil Chauhan On Theatreisation
On the issue of theatreisation, the CDS said India has “learnt lessons” on this subject from Operation Sindoor and will be “remodelling” the concept accordingly.
“The road to theatreisation lies through jointness and then integration … Of course the model won’t be based on this four-day conflict, but there are lessons to be learnt from this, and we will redo the model (of theatreisation),” he added.
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