The use of Russian defence technologies gave New Delhi a clear advantage in its recent military confrontation with Islamabad

As Operation Sindoor, India's response to the April 22 terror attack in Kashmir, has been put on a temporary pause, it is time to reflect on what happened. For the first time since the Battle of Britain, and the Korean War, two near peer air forces were engaged in an air campaign. This was also the first open conflict between two nuclear powers.

Both sides had imbibed lessons from the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It was clear that aircraft crossing borders would face strong hostile air defenses. Therefore, all strikes had to be undertaken using long-range, stand-off precision weapons, and yet hit targets accurately without much civilian collateral damage. Also the side with better air defense systems would be able to inflict significant damage and deter the adversary from carrying out strikes.

Indian Air Force (IAF) strategy, tactics, and therefore inventories, have long been designed for offensive strikes against the Western neighbor with whom India has had three fully-fledged wars and many shorter skirmishes.

Pakistan, conscious that it is a smaller economy with a smaller military, built an air force with a stronger defensive posture. In recent decades India has also had to prepare to take on a possible Chinese threat.

Notwithstanding the known positions, Indian strikes against both terrorist and military targets all across Pakistan proved very successful. Pakistani defensive systems could not engage or thwart them.

There were weapons platforms and armaments belonging to many countries at play, including, the US, Russia, China, France, and Turkey among others. Most analysts have started comparing and analysing the performance of the major weapons systems.

This was also of interest to the manufacturers and their host countries. Some of the writing was part of the narrative-building to introduce motivated biases with politico-commercial considerations. The shares of some of these conglomerates saw huge fluctuations on the stock markets on a day-to-day basis.

Both sides have claimed to have shot down each other's aircraft on the opening round, but since no aircraft crossed the border, any wreckage would have fallen on home territory and proof could have been concealed, while confirmations take time to come in. 

Cross Border Air Strikes

Just to recap the sequence of events. During the early hours of May 7, 2025, India launched air strikes on nine terrorist targets in Pakistan using 24 stand-off weapons.

Codenamed Operation Sindoor, the strikes were India's response to the Pahalgam terror attack of April 22 by Pakistan-backed terrorists, in which 26 civilian tourists, mostly Hindu, were killed. India accused Pakistan of supporting cross-border terrorism, which Pakistan denied.

The missiles struck the camps and infrastructure of militant groups Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba, and no Pakistani military or civilian facilities were targeted. The initial Indian strikes that lasted 23 minutes and were reportedly carried out by Rafale aircraft using SCALP missiles and BrahMos cruise missiles as well as the Indian Army's Indo-Israeli SkyStriker loitering munitions. Photographic evidence of strike success was presented to the Indian and international media.

Following these strikes, there were gun duels and enhanced border skirmishes along the Line of Control (LoC). Pakistan also launched massive drone and missile strikes at military and civilian targets under Operation Bunyan-un-Marsoos. This included targeting airfields from Kashmir to Gujarat.

India negated these strikes with its integrated air defense and counter drone systems. The S-400 missile system, denominated as Sudarshan Chakra, marked its first combat use by India.

The country's indigenous Akash AD system played a huge role. Pakistani strikes caused insignificant damage, and very few civilian casualties. Meanwhile, the IAF carried out SEAD/DEAD operations, neutralizing Pakistani air defence systems, including the Chinese HQ-9 in Lahore.

On May 10, in response to Pakistani strikes against Indian military targets, the IAF launched major airstrikes across the length and depth of the country, targeting a variety of military targets including airfields, AD systems, weapon and logistic storage sites.

The Nur Khan military airfield at Chaklala which is just next to the capital Islamabad, and Pakistan Army's headquarters at Rawalpindi were also hit. Other airfields hit were Sargoda, Rafiqi, Rahim Yar Khan, and radars and storage dumps at Pasrur, Malir, Chunian, Sukkur, Pasrur, and the Sialkot aviation base.

India also inflicted extensive damage on air bases at Skardu in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and Jacobabad, and Bholari in Pakistan. During its retaliatory strikes on Indian military targets, Pakistan claimed that the BrahMos storage facilities at Beas and Nagrota were destroyed, and that two S-400 systems at Adampur and Bhuj were neutralised. International media acknowledged that all such claims were false.

Immediately after the ceasefire, Indian Prime Minister Modi visited Adampur airbase and addressed the personnel with the S-400 launcher forming the background. A similar visit was made by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh to Bhuj.

A few systems used by Indian military during the operation received universal praise. These included the S-400 AD System, India's indigenous Akash AD system, the 4D (Drone, Detect, Deter, Destroy) counter-drone system developed by India's key defence agency, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), and the BrahMos anti-surface missiles. The French Scalp missile proved extremely accurate and destructive.

Let us look at the two Russia-origin systems. 

S-400 Missile System "Sudarshan Chakra"

The S-400 is a Russian mobile surface-to-air missile (SAM) system developed in the 1990s by Russia's NPO Almaz as an upgrade to the S-300 family of missiles. The S-400 joined the Russian armed forces in 2007. The system is complemented by its successor, the upcoming S-500.

The S-400 system has four radars and four sets of missiles covering different ranges and a vertical bubble. The maximum target detection range is 600 kilometers (around 372 miles) and targets can be engaged as far as 400 kilometres (about 248 miles). The five S-400 batteries contracted by India in 2018 cost $5.43 billion including with reserve missiles.

All the sub-units are data-linked and controlled by a central command and control system with sufficient redundancy. The system is capable of layered defense and integrates with other Indian air defenses. One system can control 72 launchers, with a maximum of 384 missiles. All missiles are equipped with directed explosion warheads, which increases the probability of complete destruction of aerial targets.

The system is designed to destroy aircraft, cruise, and ballistic missiles, and can also be used against ground targets. It can engage targets at up to 17,000 kilometers per hour (about 10,563 miles/hour) or Mach 14. It can intercept low flying cruise missiles at a range of about 40 kilometers (24 miles) with a line-of-sight requirement.

The anti-ballistic missile (ABM) capabilities of the S-400 system are near the maximum allowed under the (now void) Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. The number of simultaneously engaged targets by the full system is 36.

The system ground mobility speed is close to 60 kilometers per hour (about 37 miles per hour) on roads and 25 kilometers per hour (about 15.5 miles per hours) cross-country. It takes 5 minutes to be operational and fire when ordered while driving. Otherwise, the system response time is just 10 seconds. Time between major overhauls 10,000 hours. The service life is at least 20 years.

In Russia the system was made operational around Moscow in 2007. Russia reportedly deployed the S-400 in Syria. The system has been widely used in the on-going conflict in Ukraine, and is thought to have shot-down many aircraft. Meanwhile Ukraine has reportedly used Western weapons, mainly US-made ATACMS missiles, to hit S-400 units on the ground.

Belarus has unspecified numbers of S-400 units. Deliveries of six batteries to China began in January 2018. Four batteries consisting of 36 fire units and 192 or more missiles were delivered to Turkey. Algeria is another operator. Other countries, such as Iran, Egypt, Iraq, Serbia, have also shown interest.

South Korea is developing the KM-SAM, a medium-range SAM system based on technology from S-400 missiles, with assistance from NPO Almaz.

Three of the five contracted batteries have arrived in India, which took deliveries despite an American CAATSA (Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) threat. The remaining two are expected later in 2025 or 2026.

The recent conflict with Pakistan has revealed the rough location of two systems in India, one each being in Punjab and Gujarat. As per open sources, the third is somewhere in the east. The systems have been tested in various Indian military exercises.

BrahMos

The BrahMos is a long-range ramjet supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from land, submarines, ships, and fighter aircraft. It is a joint venture between DRDO and the Russian Federation's NPO Mashinostroyeniya, who together have formed BrahMos Aerospace.

The missile is based on Russian P-800 Oniks. The name BrahMos is a portmanteau formed from the names of two rivers, the Brahmaputra of India and the Moskva of Russia. India holds 50.5% share of the joint venture. Around 75% of the missile is manufactured in India and there are plans to increase this to 85%.

Large numbers of land-launched, ship-launched as well as air-launched versions have been inducted and are in service of the Indian armed forces. In 2016, after India became a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime. India and Russia gradually increased the range of the missile to 800 kilometers (497 miles). The latest deliveries to the Indian Navy are of this type.

The cruise missile has anti-ship, land-attack roles, and has been in service since June 2007. The other operator is the Philippine Marine Corps. The unit cost is around $3.5 million. The extended range variant costs around $4.85 million.

Many futuristic variants are evolving. Smaller sized variants like BrahMos-NG could be carried on more types of aircraft even on LCA.

This solid propellant missile can carry a 200-300 kilogram warhead that could be nuclear or conventional semi-armour-piercing. Maximum operational ranges are up to 900 kilometers (560 miles). Export variants are currently restricted to 290 kilometers (180 miles). Currently missile speed is Mach 3. Later variants will be hypersonic (M 5+).

The missile is very accurate with a Circular Error Probable (CEP) of less than one meter. BrahMos is India's fastest cruise missile.

BrahMos was first test-fired on June 12, 2001 from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) Chandipur in a vertical launch configuration. The September 2010 test of BrahMos created a world record for being the first cruise missile to be tested at supersonic speeds in a steep-dive mode. BrahMos was tested with an Indian seeker for the first time in March 2018, and was tested with an India-developed propulsion system, airframe and power supply in September 2019.

On September 30, 2020, India successfully test-fired an extended range BrahMos, offering a range of around 350 kilometers (217 miles), at speeds up to Mach 2.8. The submarine-launched variant of BrahMos was test fired successfully for the first time from a submerged pontoon on March 20, 2013.

The BrahMos-A is a modified air-launched variant of the missile with a reduced size and weight (2.55 tons). It has a range of 500 kilometers (310 miles) when launched from Su-30 MKI, and it can carry only one BrahMos missile. 50 IAF SU-30MKI jets were modified to carry the BrahMos-A missile.

Even BrahMos Block III land-attack variants are operational. There are plans to have 1500 kilometer (932 mile)-plus range missiles. The more advanced version, BrahMos-NG (Next Generation) is being developed and will be ready by end 2025. BrahMos-II will be a hypersonic cruise missile. An Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) variant is also being planned.

BrahMos is operationally deployed in large numbers by the three services. Additional missile orders have been recently placed for extended range variants. The Philippines has placed a substantial order for their services and deliveries began in 2024. Russia, too, has plans to buy missiles. Brazil has shown interest in the system. Vietnam and Indonesia have already signed deals.

Way Ahead

Resolute political will, target choices, weapons matching and accuracy, actionable intelligence, strong Indian air defense, IAF professionalism and strategic targeting accuracy were the clear clinchers in Operation Sindoor.

READ MORE: Why the ties between Russia and India are unbreakable

India-Russia relations are time-tested. Russian platforms and weapons with Indian armed forces have performed exceedingly well for many decades. The S-400 and Su-30MKI-BrahMos combination have excelled in Operation Sindoor.

Could the S-500 with its 600 kilometer (372 mile) range be the next acquisition? Will India select the Su-57 fifth-generation aircraft and "Make-in-India"? Can Russia help accelerate the Indian nuclear submarine program?

Should India acquire the "AWACS Killer" Russian R-37M AAM and the two then work on futuristic long-range aerial missiles?

Should there be more work together on a Su-30MKI upgrade?

Can the two enter into a joint-venture for Kamikaze drones required by both sides in large numbers, and India can help scale up production. Clearly the sky is no longer the limit.