“Operation Sindoor” a Decisive Assertion of Air Power Establishing India’s Superiority: Swiss Study

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Jan 26: A new study by the Switzerland-based Centre for Military History and Perspective Studies (CHPM) giving one of the most comprehensive independent reconstructions so far of the 88-hour India-Pakistan air war “Operation Sindoor,” has said by the morning of the fourth day on May 10, 2025, the Indian Air Force (IAF) had achieved air superiority over significant portions of Pakistani airspace, allowing it to conduct long-range precision strikes against enemy infrastructure with relative freedom.

The report also gives lie to Pakistan’s claim of having downed a large number of Indian fighter planes or having nullified Indian attacks. The study by the Swiss military history and strategy think tank and authored by military historian Adrien Fontanellaz has concluded that India’s Operation Sindoor in May last year marked a decisive shift in the balance of air power in South Asia, culminating in New Delhi achieving clear air superiority and compelling Pakistan to seek a ceasefire after four days of intense fighting.

While international headlines at the time focused narrowly on the loss of at least one Indian Rafale on the opening night, the Swiss analysis argues that this single episode obscured the far more significant operational outcome: India systematically broke Pakistan’s air defence and strike capacity and ended the conflict on its own terms. Operation Sindoor was launched after a deadly terrorist attack on tourists at picturesque Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir, which New Delhi linked to Pakistan-based terrorist groups.

The report reveals that India’s ability to sustain stand-off attacks depended largely on the availability of advanced munitions such as BrahMos and SCALP-EG cruise missiles, while in contrast the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) progressively lost its capacity to replicate the complex air operations it had carried out successfully on May 7, following the destruction of forward air-surveillance radars and the growing threat posed by India’s S-400 air defence systems to Pakistani AWACS and standoff strike platforms. Pakistani strikes conducted between May 7 and 10 were largely neutralised by Indian defences.

The CHPM report notes that on May 7, one of two Indian strike formations — comprising Rafale or Mirage 2000I fighter aircraft — penetrated Pakistani airspace at very low altitude before executing pop-up manoeuvres to release precision-guided bombs. The aircraft continued to guide the munitions until impact, deliberately exposing themselves to interception by Pakistani fighters and engagement by ground-based air defence systems.

As early as the morning of May 7, Pakistani artillery opened fire along the Line of Control, prompting immediate Indian retaliation. Later that night, the PAF launched a large-scale offensive involving more than 300 drones, JF-17 fighters, and CM-400AKG missiles.

The drone swarms targeted Indian Army forward posts, command headquarters, logistics nodes and air bases, while also attempting to trigger Indian air-defence radars for electronic intelligence collection. The PAF employed Songar armed drones, Yihaa-III (Turkish Designed) suicide drones, and conducted cyberattacks against military and civilian targets. Higher-altitude Bayraktar TB2 and Akinci drones were used alongside Pakistan Army salvos of Fatah-I and Fatah-II rockets and Hatf-II ballistic missiles.

Despite the scale of the assault, the report states that Pakistan failed to saturate Indian air defences. Most incoming munitions were intercepted, and Indian surface-to-air missile batteries repeatedly relocated to avoid detection.

Detecting preparations for another Pakistani strike on May 9, India launched a swift counterstrike. Between 02:00 and 05:00 on May 10, the IAF fired BrahMos, SCALP-EG and Rampage missiles from within Indian airspace using Su-30MKIs, Jaguars and Rafales.

Seven targets up to 200 km inside Pakistan were struck, including a surface-to-air missile battery and five air bases. Nur Khan Air Base near Islamabad suffered damage to a command-and-control centre, while Murid Air Base, the hub of Pakistan’s MALE drone fleet, saw drone hangars and control facilities hit. Rahim Yar Khan, Rafiqi, and Sukkur air bases were also targeted, the report reads.

The CHPM concludes that the Operation Sindoor marked a decisive evolution in India’s counter-terrorism doctrine, equating major terrorist attacks with acts of war. The operation removes the distinction between terrorist groups and their state sponsors and underscores India’s resolve to respond decisively, without being deterred by Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.

According to the report, Indian political leaders gave the armed forces wide latitude to plan a response that would be “sufficiently spectacular” to deter future attacks, even at the risk of escalation between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. In the early hours of May 7, the Indian Air Force (IAF) struck high-value terrorist infrastructure, including headquarters and major camps linked to Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Two key sites – Bahawalpur and Muridke – were hit with long-range precision weapons, with post-strike assessments confirming that multiple buildings were destroyed or severely damaged. The report notes that these strikes represented a qualitative leap from previous Indian responses, both in depth and in coordination between services.

Pakistan responded aggressively in the air. The opening night saw one of the largest air engagements in decades, involving around 60 Indian aircraft and more than 40 Pakistani fighters across several sectors. Using long-range Chinese-supplied PL-15 air-to-air missiles and networked targeting supported by airborne early warning aircraft, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) managed to inflict losses on the IAF, including at least one Rafale, a Mirage 2000 and another fighter. The Swiss study describes this phase as a “serious tactical setback” for India in the information and perception domain, because it allowed Islamabad to claim an early victory and dominate headlines.

But the report’s central argument is that this initial exchange did not decide the campaign. Instead, it triggered a rapid and far more consequential Indian counter-offensive. Over the following days, the IAF shifted focus to what the Swiss analysts call a textbook suppression and destruction of enemy air defences campaign. Using a mix of standoff cruise missiles such as SCALP-EG and BrahMos, coordinated strikes, and pressure from multiple axes, Indian forces systematically degraded Pakistan’s surface-to-air missile network and radar coverage.

Once this shield was weakened, India launched what the report terms a “spectacular” series of attacks on Pakistan’s principal air bases. These strikes, carried out with precision-guided munitions and long-range weapons, hit runways, infrastructure and support facilities, sharply reducing the PAF’s ability to sustain operations. In contrast to earlier crises, Pakistan was now facing direct, repeated blows to the core of its air power.

Crucially, the Swiss study highlights the performance of India’s integrated air defence and command-and-control architecture, particularly the IACCCS network and its coordination with the Army’s Akashteer system. These systems, combined with layered surface-to-air missile defences including Akash, Barak-8 and S-400, blunted Pakistani attempts at retaliation and emerged as “one of the surprises of the conflict” in terms of effectiveness.

By May 10, according to the report, the balance had clearly shifted. With its air bases under sustained pressure and its air defence network degraded, Pakistan was no longer in a position to contest airspace effectively. India, having achieved de facto air superiority, was able to dictate the tempo and scope of operations. It was at this point, the Swiss analysts conclude, that Islamabad sought a ceasefire.

Beyond the immediate military outcome, the report argues that Operation Sindoor marks a turning point in India’s strategic doctrine. New Delhi has now made clear that future major terrorist attacks traced to Pakistan-based groups will be treated not as isolated acts by non-state actors, but as inseparable from the state structures that support them – implying faster, broader and more forceful conventional retaliation in the future.

In short, while the opening night of the conflict provided Pakistan with a fleeting tactical and propaganda success, the overall campaign, as seen through this independent Swiss assessment, ended with India demonstrating superior depth, resilience and escalation control.  Operation Sindoor, the report suggests, was not just a reprisal – it was a decisive assertion of air power that reshaped the strategic equation in the subcontinent.