Operation Sindoor: Fewer than 50 strikes forced Pakistan to call for truce, says Air Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari

PTC Web Desk: Less than 50 precision weapons fired by the Indian Air Force (IAF) during Operation Sindoor were enough to compel Pakistan to request an end to military hostilities by midday on May 10, Vice Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari revealed on Saturday.

Speaking at the NDTV Defence Summit, Air Marshal Tiwari said the operation demonstrated India’s ability to establish “complete domination” over the Pakistani military with carefully planned and executed strikes.

“It was a key takeaway for us that in less than 50 weapons, we were able to achieve complete domination. This has never happened before,” Tiwari remarked.

Operation Sindoor was launched by India on May 7 as a response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. The IAF targeted terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan-controlled territories. What followed were four days of heightened cross-border clashes that concluded with Islamabad agreeing to stop military action on May 10.

Air Marshal Tiwari, who played a crucial role in the operation, noted that some of the military targets destroyed by the IAF had not even been taken out during the 1971 war. “We made every weapon count. That is a tacit acknowledgement of the capability of our planners and those who executed the missions,” he said.

According to him, India initially did not intend to escalate the situation beyond targeted strikes on terrorist camps. “We expected a response and still kept it calibrated, striking only military targets. But when Pakistan launched a major attack on the night of May 9–10, we decided to send a strong message. We hit them across the front,” he said.

The IAF ensured that the strikes were carried out with high precision to avoid civilian casualties. Tiwari explained that using long-range vectors to hit enemy positions carries significant risks of collateral damage, but the missions were executed flawlessly.

“Precision targeting from such ranges is never easy. The longer the vector, the higher the chances of collateral damage. But our planners and the execution teams ensured that every target was destroyed with accuracy and without collateral damage,” he stressed.

He further underlined that such missions are not the work of pilots alone but of an entire team working behind the scenes. “From planners to technicians, many people on the ground contribute to ensuring that every weapon meets its target,” he added.

After the initial strikes on terrorist bases, India communicated to Pakistan that it did not wish to escalate the situation and that the operations were focused only on terror infrastructure. However, once Pakistan launched military retaliation, India responded with full strength.

Air Marshal Tiwari described Operation Sindoor as a landmark mission that demonstrated India’s superior planning, precision, and restraint in handling sensitive military situations.