New Delhi: The Indian Air Force (IAF) forced Pakistan to seek an end to hostilities within hours of a powerful counter-strike during Operation Sindoor, Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari said on Saturday.
Speaking at the NDTV Defence Summit, he explained that less than 50 precision weapons fired on May 10 destroyed carefully selected Pakistani military targets, compelling Islamabad to request a halt to the conflict by mid-day. “In less than 50 weapons, we were able to achieve complete domination. It has not happened before,” he said.
The operation began on May 7, two weeks after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. India initially targeted terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan-controlled areas. These early strikes were calibrated, with India stressing that it did not want escalation and was only engaging military targets.
However, following Pakistan’s main attack on the night of May 9–10, the IAF launched a wider offensive. “That was the time we decided to send the right message. We hit them pan-front,” Tiwari said.
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According to the Vice Chief, the IAF used long-range vectors for precision targeting , a difficult manoeuvre with high risk of collateral damage. But he said every weapon hit its mark without civilian casualties. “We made every weapon count, and that is a tacit acknowledgement of the capability of our planners and the people who executed the missions,” he noted.
Some of the Pakistani positions destroyed had not been hit even during the 1971 war. The strikes degraded Pakistan’s military capability to the extent that it sought an understanding to stop hostilities by May 10.
Tiwari stressed that the success was not just due to pilots but also planners and ground staff. “The work that goes behind making that weapon hit a target accurately is the effort of the whole team,” he said.
Operation Sindoor lasted four days, from May 7 to May 10, ending with both sides agreeing to stop military actions.
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