What the Region's First Drone Warfare Taught Us

India-Pakistan military engagement came to a pause at 5 pm on May 10 following a telephonic talk between the directors general of military operations of the two countries, with a plan for the next round of talks.

- GROUP CAPT R K NARANG, VM (RETD)

India-Pakistan military engagement came to a pause at 5 pm on May 10 following a telephonic talk between the directors general of military operations of the two countries, with a plan for the next round of talks. However, Pakistan violated the truce barely a few hours later when it launched artillery and drone strikes on the night between May 10 and 11.

Operation Sindoor, launched on May 7 in response to the April 22 Pakistan-backed terror attack on civilians in Pahalgam, has not been formally called off yet, but efforts are on to restore peace. Indian combat aircraft, long-range stand-off weapons, missiles, drones and counter-drone systems played a key role in the operation. However, drones had a unique place due to their disruptive and asymmetric capabilities.

India kicked off Operation Sindoor by striking nine terrorist sites in Pakistan in the early hours of May 7. To prevent escalation, no Pakistani military or civilian installations were targeted. Sindoor (or vermilion) is traditionally worn by married women on the head or forehead, and is wiped when they become widows. This code name was chosen to honour the women who had lost their husbands at Pahalgam.

Pakistan, however, struck Indian military and civilian sites on the night of May 7 using armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), loitering and other drones en masse, moving up the escalation ladder that India had tried to avoid. The Pakistan Air Force tried to engage the Indian Air Force in aerial battle; in response, the IAF struck deep and neutralised airfields, radars, command and control centres, air defence systems, military installations, and other critical targets and war-waging potential of the PAF.