During those first crucial hours of May 7th, it appeared that the PAF had successfully built upon its strong showing in 2019. However, over the next 72 hours, India regrouped and brought a fight that the PAF – and the Pakistani military at large – was not prepared to fight.
India brought “a very different kind of fight.”
India took the IAF off the field and, in its place, heavily leaned on a vast array of loitering munitions and, most importantly, a gamechanger strike asset in the BrahMos supersonic-cruising missile (SSCM).
Indeed, while the initial – i.e., IAF-led – action of Operation Sindoor evidently did not proceed as planned, India was, nonetheless, credibly able to show it could penetrate Pakistan’s burgeoning air defence system and engage the PAF before its fighters could even get off the ground.
Our analysts discuss how while Pakistan’s newly acquired HQ-9BEs from China helped, its air defence system had trouble stopping the BrahMos.
quwa.org