Operation Sindoor: How in 23 minutes India's stealth strike crushed Pakistan air defence and surveillance grid

While India's response to the Pahalgam terror attack—the deliberate, precise, and strategic strikes of terror hideouts in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, possibly in line with the Cold Start Doctrine— showcased the ability to counter evolving pattern of asymmetric warfare, what also stood out was how India managed to seamlessly integrate indigenous hi-tech systems into national defence establishment.

Operation Sindoor wasn't merely a testament to India's tactical brilliance, it also showed how the government's insistence on technological self-reliance in military operations ultimately paid off, whether it was in the field of drone warfare, layered air defence, or electronic warfare.

The Integrated counter UAS (unmanned aerial systems) grid and air defence systems of India thwarted Pakistan's attempts to go for military targets in Northern and Western India including Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, and Pathankot. The layered integrated defence systems comprise assets from the three services, primarily that of the Indian Air Force. The air defence systems Russian-origin, highly mobile, short-range, low-altitude surface-to-air missile (SAM) system OSA-AK; low-level air defence (LLAD) guns and short-range surface-to-air missile system Akash were used by the Indian security forces in Operation Sindoor.

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The defence ministry said the weapon systems from the three services, brought together by the Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS) of the Indian Air Force, "created an impenetrable wall, foiling multiple attempts by Pakistan to retaliate."

India has also managed to target air defence radars and systems at several locations in Pakistan, including Lahore. India used loitering munitions, also known as 'suicide drones' or 'kamikaze drones' in its offensive strikes, targetting Pakistani airbases Noor Khan and Rahimyar Khan. These weapon systems, which can hover or circle a target area, searching for a suitable target before attacking, destroyed high-value targets of Pakistan, including their radar and missile systems. Pakistan’s Chinese-supplied air defence systems were bypassed and jammed Indian Air Force, completing the mission in just 23 minutes.

Weapon systems like long-range drones to guided munitions struck in a highly effective manner. According to the Research Unit of PIB, India lost none of its assets during the offensive strikes, highlighting the effectiveness of the country's surveillance, planning, and delivery systems.

India’s indigenous air defence and electronic warfare networks managed to outpower the advanced foreign-supplied weaponry of Pakistan, including Chinese-origin PL-15 missiles, Turkish-origin 'Yiha' UAVs and long-range rockets, quadcopters and commercial drones.

The combination of counter-unmanned aerial systems, shoulder-fired weapons, legacy air defence weapons, and modern air defence weapon systems proved to be force multipliers in the operations against Pakistan.

"In future conflicts, the battlefield will increasingly be shaped by technology. And India, as shown in Operation Sindoor, is ready, armed with its own innovations, backed by a determined state, and powered by the ingenuity of its people," the PIB release stated.

Defence