It took fewer than 50 weapons for the Indian Air Force to force Pakistan to come to a conflict resolution during the recent military clashes between India and Pakistan, Vice Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari revealed at the NDTV defence summit on Saturday.
He also shared visuals of the action by the Indian security forces against terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack.
He said there were a number of targets, but India narrowed it down to nine for Operation Sindoor. "All the possible options for all three services were discussed, and essentially, we shortlisted targets and tactical planning commenced around the 29th of April. We had shortlisted targets; only the date and time were to be decided, which was finally fixed on the 5th of May," he said.
In response to the Pahalgam attack, the Indian armed forces on May 7 carried out precision strikes at terrorist hideouts in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) under Operation Sindoor.
"Key takeaway for us, that in less than 50 weapons, we were able to achieve conflict elimination. So this is the essential part which I want you to take away," he was quoted as saying.
The Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS) of India played a major role in the offensive and defensive operations. As we saw during Operation Sindoor, the importance of air defence capability in today's wars has increased to a great extent, he noted.
Praising the political leadership, he claimed that what worked in India's favour was the fact that the security forces were given complete operational freedom to plan any response to enemy actions.
