Desi drones cleared pilot test under Operation Sindoor
India's stunning strikes at nine terror bases in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) and inside Pakistan's Punjab on May 7 in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack had two firsts. One, precision strikes on the other side of the international border (IB) between India and Pakistan since the 1971 war; and two, use of loitering munitions or 'kamikaze' drones to destroy the terror infrastructure of the enemy under Operation Sindoor. The message was loud and clear: no part of the neighbouring country was safe for terrorists henceforth. At the same time, India asserted that the strikes were de-escalatory as precision munitions avoided collateral damage as also Pakistan's military installations.
For precision strikes, the choice of kamikaze drones, that are capable of surveillance and lethal penetration inside enemy territory to seek targets, was tactical and extremely effective in what emerged as the grey zone warfare and the longest air combat in recent history.
On May 8, in a joint press conference by the Ministry of External Affairs, Col Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh showed pictures of the extensively damaged terror sites. Kamikaze drones and missiles carried out the targeted attacks at nine locations in less than 25 minutes beginning 1.05 am on May 7, killing 100 terrorists, the government stated.
Operation Sindoor avenged the killing of 26 people, most of them tourists on the basis of religion, at Baisaran in Pahalgam on April 22 by heavily armed terrorists from across the border. Along with the use of Scalp cruise missiles and HAMMER bombs, the Indian Army deployed indigenously-built SkyStriker suicide drones for precision strikes. The SkyStriker has been developed by Bengaluru-based Alpha Design (ADTL) in collaboration with Israel's Elbit Systems. They are rapidly deployable, have minimal thermal and acoustic signatures, require low maintenance, are mobile and can be operated by just one personnel. In their operational debut, the loitering munitions spelt havoc on their targets and gave India the much-required military heft and psychological edge.
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