By News On Air May 12, 2025
Director General Air Operations, Air Marshal AK Bharti today stressed that India’s fight was with terrorists and their support infrastructure and not with Pakistan military. He said it is a pity that the Pakistan military chose to intervene and bat for the terrorists which compelled Indian Armed Forces to respond in kind.
Briefing media in Delhi on Operation Sindoor, Air Marshal Bharti gave details about how Indian Forces minimised damage to both civilian and military infrastructure of the country during Operation Sindoor. He spoke about the layered and integrated air defence systems put in place by the Indian Armed Forces, which includes the assets of the Indian army and Indian Navy, in addition to air defence assets of IAF. DGAO said this robust Air Defence, AD system comprises of a large variety of multi layered AD sensors and weapons systems.
Air Marshal Bharti informed that numerous waves of drones and unmanned combat aerial vehicles employed by Pakistan were thwarted by the indigenously developed soft and hard kill counter-UAS systems and the well-trained Indian Air Defence personnel. He said India’s battle-proven systems stood the test of time. He also highlighted the stellar performance of the indigenous air defence systems like the Akash system. He acknowledged that putting together and operationalising of the potent AD environment has been possible over the last decade due to unwavering budgetary and policy support from the government of India in acquiring state of the art equipment and weapons system.
Speaking about the results achieved in countering the enemy threat over the last week, Air Marshal Bharti said Pakistan’s PL-15 missile of Chinese origin missed target and loiter munitions and unmanned aerial systems were brought down. On India’s offensive actions, the DGAO said India targeted the length and breadth of the adversary, citing strikes on Nur Khan airbase and Rahim Yar Khan airbase.
Giving an overview of how air defence systems thwarted enemy drones, fighter aircraft, and missiles which resulted in minimal losses on Indian side, Director General Military Operations, Lt General Rajiv Ghai said they were well prepared in advance. He said whenever Pakistani air force tried to target Indian airfields and logistic installations during the night of 9 and 10 May, they were deterred by multilayered counter drone and air defence grid. He emphasised that there was not a chance for Pakistan to be able to penetrate India’s air defence.
The DGMO praised BSF for its cooperation in the operations. He highlighted that in every single domain that Operation Sindoor has been prosecuted, there has been absolute synergy between the three services. He said there was full support by government, departments and agencies and the 140 crore people of the nation.
In his statement, Director General Naval Operations, Vice Admiral AN Pramod said Navy operates as a composite network force capable of simultaneously addressing threats emanating from all domains. These include air, surface and sub surface through amalgamation of advanced sensors synchronised on the combat management systems. DGNO said the maritime force is able to ensure persistent surveillance, detection, and identification for a comprehensive maritime domain awareness, including the airspace. He highlighted that using multiple sensors and inputs, Indian Navy is maintaining continuous surveillance to neutralise threats as they emerge.
DGNO informed that in the current standoff, the presence of Navy’s Aircraft Carrier with large number of Mig 29 K fighters and Air Borne Early Warning helicopters prevented any suspicious or hostile aircraft to close the Carrier Battle Group within several hundred kilometres. He added that immediately after terror incident at Pahalgam, Indian Navy its anti missile and anti aircraft defence capability in a complex threat environment using cross platform cooperative mechanism. He said Navy’s powerful Carrier Battle Group, with formidable offensive capability was able to operate with impunity and maintained an uncontested presence in the area of operations. Vice Admiral Pramod stated that this compelled the Pakistani Air Elements to remain bottled up close to the Makaran coast denying any opportunity to be a threat in maritime space. He emphasised that the Indian Navy maintains a credible capability to detect, identify and neutralize any aerial platforms that threatens its units at sea.