The Indian Air Force (IAF) has successfully bypassed and jammed Pakistan’s Chinese-supplied air defence systems during Operation Sindoor, completing the mission in just 23 minutes.
According to the official press release, all strikes were executed without loss of Indian assets, underscoring the effectiveness of its surveillance, planning, and delivery systems. The use of modern indigenous technology, from long-range drones to guided munitions, made strikes highly effective and politically calibrated.
The Indian forces also identified and recovered proof of ‘hostile technologies’, which were neutralised by Indian systems. According to the detailed press release, pieces of Chinese-origin PL-15 missiles, Turkish-origin UAVs named ‘Yiha’ or ‘YEEHHAW’ and long-range rockets, quadcopters and commercial drones were found.
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, the press release further said. India also used loitering munitions, also known as ‘suicide drones’ or ‘kamikaze drones’, which are weapons systems that can hover or circle a target area, searching for a suitable target before attacking.
On May 12, Director General of Military Operations, Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai, in the Operation Sindoor press briefing, highlighted the excellent performance of a mix of legacy and modern systems.
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.
In preparation for Pakistan’s response, a unique blend of Counter Unmanned Aerial Systems, Electronic Warfare assets, and Air Defence Weapons from both Army and Air Force including multiple defensive layers from the International Boundary such as Counter Unmanned Aerial System, Shoulder-Fired Weapons, Legacy Air Defence Weapons, Modern Air Defence Weapon Systems were used.
This multi-tier defence prevented Pakistan Air Force attacks on India’s 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.
India launched Operation Sindoor in response to last month’s Pahalgam attack in which 26 people were killed. India’s precision strikes in Pakistan and PoJK on May 7 killed over 100 terrorists.
