Armed Forces Operations Officers Bust Pakistani Propaganda

At a special briefing on the Air Defence (AD) aspects of Operation Sindoor on Monday, the three senior operations officers of the Indian armed forces busted Pakistani propaganda about India’s military and civilian targets being hit during the sequence of events from 7^th to 10^th May. This was the second briefing in the span of two days by the three officers.

“All our military bases and all our systems remain operationally ready to undertake any missions if the need arises,” Air Marshal A K Bharti, the Director General of Air Operations (DGAO), told reporters in New Delhi. This was a direct counter to the claims made by Pakistan in a late night press briefing by their Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR). Pakistan had claimed that India’s military infrastructure had been targeted extensively. No proof was provided by the ISPR.

Bharti explained at length the ability of the Indian forces to minimize the damage to Indian military and civilian assets even after unrelenting attacks by Pakistan. This was due to the robust and multi-layered AD system that integrates a large number of assets. Pakistan had to confront the formidable multi-layered counter drone and air defence grid. This ranges from counter drone and shoulder fired surface to air missiles (SAMs) of a short range, also known as MANPADS as the first layer of the grid. Then come the point air defence and short range SAMs in the second layer. The third layer comprises Medium Range SAMs or MRSAMs and finally, the last layer are the Long Range SAMs or LRSAMs.

The “marriage” of the indigenously developed and manufactured Akash missiles system that has a range of 25-30 kms to this command and control grid, has altered the dynamics of air defence in a remarkable manner.

Bharti highlighted the stellar role of the Akash system and praised the government saying that, “the putting together of this AD system has been possible by the unwavering budgetary support of the government of India over the past decade.”

Giving further details of the operations in response to Pakistan’s offensive after the initial hits on terrorist infrastructure, the officer said that, “the length and breadth of the adversary (Pakistan) was targeted,” adding that the damage to the Nur Khan air base was now visible from a number of open source images. This was also the case with the cratering at the Rahimyar Khan air base.

In his remarks, the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai said the armed forces anticipated the Pakistani response. The context in which Operation Sindoor took place needed to be understood, he said. The character of terrorist attacks has changed in recent years. Instead of armed forces innocent civilians were being targeted. Last year pilgrims who were visiting the Shiv Khori temple were attacked; this year it was tourists at Pahalgam. This was in contrast to the usual terrorist attacks that targeted armed forces personnel.

“We knew that the attack would come from across the border that’s why we had prepared our AD systems accordingly.  Multi-layered counter drone air defence grid was established and that ensured the enemy could not inflict damage on us,” he said adding that “there was no chance that Pakistan Air Force (PAF) could target our airfields.”

The message from Vice Admiral A Pramod, the Director General of Naval Operations (DGNO) was equally blunt and to the point: Pakistan stood no chance against the Navy. The Indian Navy runs a network centric carrier fleet that has domain awareness and capabilities to strike beyond what the enemy can present.

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