Operation Sindoor reshaped conflict

• The India-Pakistan standoff represents a significant shift in modern warfare, highlighting the use of drone warfare and the shift from traditional operating strategies to asymmetric technology.

• The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the conflict is a significant departure from traditional air combat, demonstrating the capability to introduce swarms of inexpensive, expendable reconnaissance and strike vehicles.

• The use of drones in the matrix, such as India’s interception of Pakistan’s attempted drone intrusion, demonstrates the scale of this technological revolution.

• Air defence has moved from fixed, hardware-oriented methods to layered, dynamic networks of defence, with India’s multi-layered air defence composed of indigenous systems and imported systems.

• India’s Akashteer system, which digitally merges radar information for real-time decision-making, is an evolutionary step in defensive capabilities.

• Information warfare has emerged as a sophisticated battlefield, with disinformation becoming a strategic weapon at an unprecedented scale.

• India’s show of indigenous platforms and its work on Project Kusha reflect a larger worldwide trend towards technological independence.

• India’s strategic deterrence approach has seen a qualitative transformation, signalling a departure from its historically defensive posture to a more proactive, precision-oriented strategic approach.

• The standoff with Pakistan has shown a sophisticated style of escalation management, signalling strategic capabilities without necessitating full-scale war.

• There is a visible shift in India’s military warfighting doctrine, signalling a departure from its historically defensive posture to a more proactive, precision-oriented strategic approach.

• Joint operations by the Indian armed forces have seen unprecedented levels of inter-service coordination, with the Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS) becoming the operational spine.

• The democratisation of warfare technologies presents challenges and opportunities for India, as Pakistan can create asymmetric warfare capabilities that can counter India’s conventional military power.