Forthcoming

The 5^th India Pakistan War: Operation Sindoor—An Open Source Analysis

Maj Gen (Dr) GD Bakshi SM, VSM (Retd)

Gen Bakshi had done his Phd on Limited Wars in South Asia under a nuclear backdrop in 2011. He had advocated the need to inflict far greater Punishment on Pakistan for its terror depredations to ensure Coercion & Compellence. The best means for this was Air Power which provides much greater lethality and the best escalation control. This was precisely how it was done in Operation Sindoor. He has examined the entire history of India’s search for conventional response options to asymmetric provocations under a nuclear umbrella. Initially the civilian Government in India were so overawed by Nuclear deterrence that they did nothing to respond Proactively. The Modi Government explored an escalating set of response options-ranging From Trans Border SF Raids, to air strikes in Balakote. It finally responded with a well caliberated Tri-Service operation in 2025. This was Air Power & Drones Driven. India pulverized 9 major terror bases and Hit 11 out of Pakistan’s 12 Major Air bases. What emerged brilliantly was India’s indigenous technology that seamlessly integrated diverse Sensors, Shooters & Softwares to create a formidable Air defense environment that almost checkmated any chances of a successful Pakistan nuclear strike! India also launched pin point Brahmos attacks on Pakistan’s Nuclear Command Authority & C2 set up at Nur Khan. It cratered 4 Pakistan air fields from where nuclear capable jets could take off. India also hit the Nuclear weapons storage sites to prevent mating of nuclear War Heads with Delivery means. It was a brilliant campaign that will long be studied in War collages of the world as the only intense conventional military conflict between two nuclear powers. It has ushered in the 3rd Nuclear Age where the efficacy of small nuclear arsenels like Pakistan’s is now under serious question.

Maj Gen (Dr) GD Bakshi SM, VSM (Retd)

Maj Gen (Dr) GD Bakshi SM, VSM is a combat veteran who served in the 1971 War and the Kargil conflict. He led CT Ops in Punjab and later in Kishtwar, & Rajouri & Punch in J&K. He Taught at the prestigious National Defense Collage and was the first officer from that institution to get a Phd on Limited Wars in South Asia under a Nuclear Backdrop He has done two tenures in the prestigious Directorate General of Military Operations (MO). With this rich backdrop of study & experience, he has analysed Operation Sindoor in detail and highlighted its tremendous success.

Contents

Prologue

1. The Nuclear Overhang: Creating Space for Conventional Conflict in South Asia
2. Backdrop to Operation Sindoor: Field Marshal Munir’s Civilizational War and the Pahalgam Massacre
3. Opposing Force Levels and Order of Battle, Readiness Profiles: India-Pakistan
4. Taking out Pakistan’s Terror Infrastructure: The Reichtofen Circus?
5. Pakistan Strikes Back 08/09 May 2025
6. Indian SEAD Operations 08-09 May 2025
7. Retribution: 10 May India Strikes 11 Pak Air Bases
8. The Kirana and Chagai Hills Controversy: Hitting Nuclear Storage Sites
9. Matrix of De-escalation: Timelines
10. India’s New Strategic Doctrine
11. Some Nuclear Doctrinal Issues
12. Operation Sindoor: An Objective Evaluation by Foreign Experts
13. Information War and Shaping the Narrative
14. The China-Pakistan-Turkiye Axis

Epilogue: On Limited Wars in South Asia: The Way Ahead

Select Bibliography

Index