Operation Sindoor: Top defence officials narrate how targets in Pakistan were hit and navy was near Pakistan coast, say war is not over and forces remain in operational readiness
A day after India and Pakistan agreed to halt military operations, top Indian military officials held a press briefing on Sunday evening. In contrast to previous briefings held by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri along with two mid-level miliary officials – Wing Commander Vyomika Singh and Colonel Sofia Qureshi – today’s briefing was held by senior defence officials.
DGMO Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai, Air Marshal A K Bharti – DG Air Ops, and Vice Admiral A N Pramod – DG Navy Ops addressed the briefing held at National Media Centre in New Delhi. DGMO Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai opened the briefing with the background of the Pahalgam terror attack that triggered the Operation Sindoor by India.
He stated, “When you combine those horrific scenes and the pain of the families that the nation witnessed with numerous other recent terrorist strikes on our armed forces and defenceless civilians, we knew that the time had arrived to make yet another compelling statement of our resolve as a nation. Operation Sindoor was conceptualized with a clear military aim to punish the perpetrators and planners of terror and to destroy their terror infrastructure. What I do not state here is the often stated determination of India and its intolerance to terror.”
The DGMO added, “Those strikes across those nine terror hubs left more than 100 terrorists killed, including high value targets such as Yusuf Azhar, Abdul Malik Rauf and Mudasir Ahmed that were involved in the hijack of IC814 and the Pulwama blast. The line of control was also violated soon after by Pakistan and the erratic and rattled response of our enemy was apparent from the number of civilians, inhabited villages and religious sites such as Gurudwaras that were unfortunately hit by them, leading to a sad loss of lives. The Indian Air Force played a major part in these strikes by engaging some of these camps and the Indian Navy provided wherewithal in terms of precision munitions. The Indian Air Force had their assets up in the sky.”
After that, Air Marshal A K Bharti described the air strikes undertaken by IAF, saying that the targets were selected carefully, and methods used to strike them were chosen based on various factors. The DG Air Ops displayed images showing the terror camps selected, and videos of precision guided weapons hit by Indian drones and missiles on the 7th May strike.
Before and after visuals of the targets were shown, visible damage to the terror infrastructure. These included the terrorist bases in Murdike and Bahalwalpur.
Air Marshal Bharti said that on 7th May after the Indian strikes, Indian airspace was saturated with Pakistani UAVs and small drone. These came in droves towards civilian areas and military installations, but they were successfully intercepted. However, 3 of them managed to land, although there was not much damage.
He added that India’s robust hard-kill and soft-kill systems did the job of eliminating the aerial threats. The Air Marshal pointed out that while India had targeted only terrorist camps, Pakistan targeted civilians and military infrastructure. Therefore, that very night, radar installations in radar and Gujranwala were struck by Indian forces. This was done to indicate that we are ready but don’t want to escalate.
DGMO Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai added that on the night of 8th and 9th May, Pakistan intruded into Indian airspace with drones and aircraft along the entire border.
Air Marshal Bharti said that Pakistan conducted a mass air raid from Kashmir to Gujarat, but Indian air defence was ready to counter them. He said that compared to the previous day, there were less armed UAVs but more quadcopter drones the next day. However, those were also successfully intercepted by Indian air defence system.
Pakistan launched its own military operation Operation Bunyanun Marsoos, targeting several key bases in India. Reports suggest that around 300-400 drones were used in the attack, targeting 36 Indian locations, including military bases and religious sites. The drones were reportedly of Turkish origin, specifically Asisguard Songar drones.
In response, India targeted military installations, including surface to air missile sites and radar sites. But despite the counter attack, Pakistani drone attacks continued. Air Marshal Bharti added that while launching drones from a place near Lahore, Pakistan continued to allow civilian flight operations.
DGMO Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai said that defence measures were also deployed on the ground, including air defence and electronic warfare assets. He referred to media reports narrating the effectiveness of Indian missile defence systems like S-400 and Akash, which were set up with the collaboration with air force. He said that troops were also deployed over land, air and water.
He said that on 9th, Pakistan again launched attacks, this time targeting military infrastructure. Some airfields and ammunition dumps were targeted repeatedly, but all of them were thwarted. Ghai said that Pakistan Army has lost around 35-40 personnel in artillery and small firing along the LoC.
Air Marshal A K Bharti added that on 8th May, Pakistani UAVs and drones targeted multiple IAF bases. However, all of them were neutralised using air defence systems and also using legacy systems, including Garuda snipers. After this relentless attack on Indian positions, a decision was taken to strike at Pakistan airbases, command centres, military infrastructure, air defence systems across the western front.
The bases struck by India included Chaklala, Rahim Yar Khan, Sukkur, sending a clear message that aggression will not be tolerated. This was followed by strikes at Sargodha, Jacobabad and Bholari. India also struck UAV complex at Murid, Rafiqui, radar base at Chunian, Rahim Yar Khan air field, and UAV hangar at Sukkur.
“We have the capability to target every system at these bases and more, but it was only a measured response to instill good wisdom to our adversary to refrain from further escalation,” Air Marshal Bharti said. He also displayed several before and after visuals of the targets, showing the extensive damage caused by Indian strikes.
This included detailed video of the effects of India’s Air Operations at Pasrur Air Defence Radar, Chunian Air Defence Radar, Arifwala Air Defence Radar, Sargodha Airfield, Rahim Yar Khan Airfield, Chaklala Airfield (Nur Khan), Sukkur Airfield, Bholari Airfield and Jacobabad Airfield.
After that, Vice Admiral A N Pramod narrated what the Indian Navy did during the operation, giving the first official detail of navy involvement. He said that Indian Navy’s carrier battle group, surface forces, submarines and aviation assents were immediately deployed at sea with full combat readiness according to the joint action plan of the Indian defence forces.
He revealed that within 96 hours of the Pahalgam terror attack, Navy tested and refined its tactics and procedures at sea during multiple firings in the Arabian sea. After that, the naval forces remained deployed at northern Arabian sea in a decisive and deterrent posture with full readiness and capacity to strike select targets at sea and on land, including Karachi, at any time chosen by India.
This compelled Pakistani naval and air units to be in a defensive posture, mostly inside harbours and close to the coast. The Vice Admiral said that Indian navy maintained continuous marine dominance during the entire duration, and was aware of location and movement of Pakistani units.
He said that the strong position of the three armed forces of India compelled Pakistan to request for end of military action. Vice Admiral Pramod said that even though there is ceasefire, Indian navy remains deployed at sea to respond decisively to respond to any action by Pakistan or Pakistan-bassed terrorists.
On asked about casualties suffered by Pakistan, Air Marshal AK Bharti said that aim was not to inflict casualties, but to hit targets, adding that their job is not to count the body bags. On the question of how many and what kind of Pakistani planes were hit, he said that “Definitely, we have downed a few planes…Definitely, there are losses on their side which we have inflicted.” He added that planes were prevented from entering inside Indian border, therefore we don’t have the wreckage to identify the downed planes. However, forces are working on technical aspects to get the details.
On the question on whether India will hit the remaining terrors camps from the 21 locations displayed in the first press briefing, the DGMO said that while he can’t reveal operational details, but operation is still ongoing and forces are in full readiness. He added that if need arises, remaining camps will be engaged. He added that over 100 terrorists were killed in the operation on 9 terror camps.
On the question of speculations and Pakistani claims that India has lost assets including Rafale aircraft, Air Marshal AK Bharti gave an indirect answer, indicating that there have been some losses. He said, ‘we are in a combat situation, and losses are a part of combat’. He added that the question that should be asked is whether we have achieved the objective of hitting the terror camps, and the answer is yes.
He added he won’t reveal the details of losses like the number and type of platform as we are still in combat position. If will reveal, it will be an advantage for the adversary, he said.
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