India decisively asserted its military superiority over Pakistan during this month’s brief but intense confrontation under Operation Sindoor, delivering precision strikes deep inside Pakistani territory and crippling key enemy infrastructure, including radar systems, command control units, and airbases, according to a Reuters report citing Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, General Chauhan revealed that while the Indian Armed Forces did suffer initial setbacks, the tactical response that followed showcased India’s overwhelming capabilities.
“So what I can say is, on May 7 and the initial stages, there were losses, but the numbers and that’s not important. What was important is why did these losses occur, and what will we do after that? So we rectified the tactics and then went back on seventh, eighth and 10th, and 10th in large numbers, to hit their bases deep inside Pakistan, penetrated all their defences with impunity, with scattered opposition strikes,” General Chauhan told Reuters.
On May 11, Director General Air Operations Air Marshal Bharti had addressed the question of aircraft losses, stating, “I can’t comment about loss of Aircraft as we are in a combat scenario and losses are part of combat.”
Rejecting Pakistan’s claims that India ceased aerial operations after May 7, Gen Chauhan affirmed that India’s response only intensified in scale and precision. On May 10, Indian fighter jets, drones, and missiles targeted 11 Pakistani air bases, including the Nur Khan Airbase near Islamabad, with strikes so intense they lit up the sky — what PM Narendra Modi later referred to as a “new dawn” during his address at Adampur Airbase.
Satellite imagery, sourced both domestically and internationally, confirmed the accuracy and scale of India’s strikes.
“Now that the satellite images for all the strikes that are available, not only through Indian media but from global sources, and you would have seen that most of the strikes were delivered with pinpoint accuracy, some even to a metre, to whatever was our selected mean point of impact,” Chauhan added.
The operation marked a turning point in South Asia’s military equation, where India demonstrated its capability to carry out high-impact counter-terror operations, even against a nuclear-armed adversary, without provoking full-scale escalation.
“There’s a lot of space before that nuclear threshold is, you know, crossed, a lot of signalling before that. I think nothing like that happened. Over a period of time, as I said in a couple of other meetings that there’s a lot of space for conventional operations, which has been created, and this will be the new norm,” the CDS stated.
Despite striking targets near sensitive nuclear sites, both nations showed restraint.
“It’s my personal view again that the most rational people are people in uniform when conflict takes place. That’s because they understand that conflict can swing either way, and they understand the consequences of this kind of conflict. And in every step, which happened during this Operation Sindoor, I found both sides displaying a lot of rationality in their thought as well as actions,” General Chauhan remarked.
Following retaliatory strikes from Pakistan targeting Indian defence and civilian areas, India launched another wave of precision attacks, leading to the destruction of several Pakistani air bases. The two sides reached an understanding on cessation of hostilities on May 10.
Operation Sindoor has not only proven India’s military readiness and strategic depth but has also redefined the conventional threshold of warfare in the region — on India’s terms and timeline.