As the dust settles over the India-Pakistan conflict—triggered by India's missile strikes on nine terrorist hubs in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Punjab province in response to the Islamabad-sponsored terrorist attack in Pahalgam in April—it is time for a reckoning of how the two adversaries fared. Uniquely,
over four intense, dramatic days (May 7-10), the theatre of war was the skies on either side of the Line of Control (LoC) and the international border. Airpower was the key factor, manifested not in the dogfights of yore, but their modern equivalent, comprising precise strikes, electronic warfare and smart coordination between aircraft,
ground radars and airborne early warning and control system (AEW&CS)/ Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft. Drones and missiles were used aplenty by Pakistan, and India's multi-layered air defence (AD) system rose to the occasion like never before. According to the Indian Army, its air defence units neutralised nearly 800-900 Pakistani drones during Operation Sindoor.
If, early on May 7, the Pakistani air defence had no immediate answer to the loitering munitions/ kamikaze drones, and SCALP/ Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles and HAMMER bombs fired from the Rafales of the Indian Air Force (IAF) that destroyed the terrorist camps, the Pakistan Air Force's (PAF) J-10CEs, F-16s and JF-17 fighter jets did pose a threat.
Indeed, Pakistan has claimed—without definitive proof or explicit acknowledgement from India—that several Indian jets were lost. Significantly, wary of each other's missiles,
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