The Year That Was: War, warnings and a new doctrine

As part of Operation Sindoor – a name coined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi – armed forces jammed Pakistan’s Chinese air defence systems before carrying out attacks using Scalp deep-strike cruise missiles that allowed Rafale fighter pilots to hit ground targets from standoff ranges. The forces also used the Hammer smart weapon system, BrahMos missiles launched by Sukhoi-30s and guided bomb kits.

Located around 100km from the border, the Markaz Subhanallah camp was the farthest target from the border and was the Jaish-e-Mohammed’s (JeM) operational headquarters. Another target, Markaz Taiba, was the headquarters of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), led by Hafiz Saeed. Terrorists trained at this camp were associated with several strikes in India, including the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

Operation Sindoor sparked a series of counterattacks from Pakistan along the western border. The Pakistani military initially resorted to artillery shelling along LoC. By 8.30pm on May 7, Islamabad had launched aerial attacks using drones and missiles at multiple towns and cities.

India used the Russian-origin S-400 Triumf air defence system, Akash surface-to-air missiles, anti-drone systems and other countermeasures to defeat the incoming threats. India also deployed kamikaze drones, including the Harops bought from Israel, to target air defence networks in Pakistan. An air defence system at Lahore was neutralised.

The drone strikes, particularly on May 8, were meant to signal the reach of the weaponry of the armed forces. The use of heavier weaponry, especially the BrahMos, which has a range of about 450km for the air-launched version and about 800km for the land version, was meant to inflict greater damage on terrorist infrastructure and military facilities.

Among the locations targeted with drones in the May 8 strikes were the Pakistan Army’s General Headquarters, the Strategic Plans Division (SPD) and a wing of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) dealing with Kashmir in Rawalpindi, the residence of the army’s corps commander in Lahore in Punjab province, and a few locations within Malir cantonment in Karachi in Sindh province.

Around 8.30pm, Pakistan again launched drone attacks at 26 locations along the border. Indian forces shot down the drones, which targeted military and civilian sites, and retaliated proportionately. Pakistan stepped up attacks around 1.40am, targeting air bases in Punjab, medicare centres and schools in air force bases in Jammu and Kashmir, with Srinagar, Awantipora, Udhampur bearing the brunt.

In retaliation, IAF struck 13 airbases and military installations, marking the worst hit that Pakistan has taken since 1971. The BrahMos missiles were also used to target eight Pakistani bases, including the Nur Khan airbase in Rawalpindi and the Bholari airbase as part of the offensive. The targets IAF hit included runways, hangars, command and control centres, radar bases, missile sites and weapon storage areas.

Pakistan sought to retaliate to the devastating attacks with multiple Bayker YIHA III Kamikaze drones targeted at Amritsar at 5am. But the army’s air defence network detected, tracked and engaged these drones within seconds.

Within hours of this offensive, the Pakistan high commission reached out to the Indian external affairs ministry at 12.37pm on Saturday, requesting a phone call between the directors general of military operations (DGMOs) of the two nations. At 3.35pm, the DGMOs spoke on the phone and agreed to stop all firing and military action on land, air and sea from 5pm. At 5.25pm, US President Donald Trump announced that the two countries had reached a “ceasefire”. At 6pm, foreign secretary Vikram Misri confirmed the understanding at a brief press conference.

Operation Sindoor was the defining moment in an otherwise turbulent year. It revealed warfare’s revolutions: advanced strike systems and sophisticated information operations that aided both sides to target the other deep behind enemy lines without crossing physical borders. It showed diplomacy and info wars were critical aspects of modern warfare, underlined by the dispatching of parliamentary delegations across the world. And it prompted Modi to define a new security doctrine – every terror attack against India will receive a strong response, New Delhi will not tolerate nuclear blackmail, a reference to Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, and India will not make a distinction between governments patronising terror, and terrorists.

The 23-minute operation showcased the best of government action, military precision, technological prowess and boundless courage. But terrorism is a multifaceted beast, as underlined by the Red Fort attack this winter that killed nine. And Trump’s repeated claims of having brokered a ceasefire, despite India’s stern denials, and high tariffs, pointed to the treacherous nature of geopolitics. New Delhi’s response was measured and mature even as it signalled its strategic autonomy by aligning with a range of great powers.

Politically, the year belonged to the National Democratic Alliance. The BJP came back to power in Delhi after 27 years and Nitish Kumar won a fifth consecutive term in Bihar on the back of a landslide victory, even as the Opposition appeared listless and out of ideas.

It was a challenging year for Indian aviation. Between the worst single aircraft crash in India, the questions raised about the ensuing investigation, and the chaos unleashed by the scheduling meltdown at IndiGo, India’s regulatory infrastructure came under intense scrutiny. Violence in Manipur, which flared up two years ago, largely abated but structural solutions and long-term peace still appears tenuous. And the vortex of toxic air that blanketed north India in the winter exposed glaring lacunae in institutional planning and government response – something that will need to change in 2026 to build a more prosperous, healthier and more developed country.