2025 war

A mere 50-kilometre error cost one of the two countries dearly. The Godzilla Formation of Indian Rafale jets was the package that Narendra Modi had been waiting for for six years. If there is one example of e-warfare, radars and cyber warfare in modern history, then, it is the Pak-India "One Hour War" in May. The Indian attack was a war of aggression, a power projection. Indian fighter jets had locked the entire eastern border of Pakistan from the Indian Ocean to Kashmir. How are you, friends? I am Faisal Warraich. On the intervening night of May 6 and 7, 2025, a historic battle took place between India and Pakistan, a battle that changed the character of the traditional war between the two atomic powers. Three characteristics of this war were completely new. One is that for the first time, the professional air forces of the two atomic powers came face-to-face and with killing intents. Otherwise, in the last four decades, only very powerful air forces had been attacking a very weak enemy. As in Syria, Yemen and Gaza, Russian, Israeli and American jets used to bomb and these countries could not defend themselves. The last real battle of professional armies was between the British and Argentine air forces in 1982, which is called the "Falklands War." After that, there were some clashes of aircraft in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. Both of these were old-style dogfights and even in these, more than 40 aircraft never came face-to-face. But in this one-hour war of Pakistan and India, more than 100 aircraft were in action. In this war, for the first time in history, the radar, electronic and cyber warfare expertise of two professional armies was going to be tested. Another modern aspect of this war was that this fight was not a traditional dogfight but was fought with "beyond visual range" missiles. Because in a traditional dogfight, fighter pilots would come in front of each other, lock on to them and then hit them with guns or missiles. But in this battle, the planes without face to face each other, from hundreds of kilometres away, through a complex system of electronic warfare, were to lock and hit the Beyond Visual Range fighter jets. India named this operation Operation Sindoor. According to India, the aim of this operation was to respond to the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attack by targeting the so-called bases in Pakistan from where the Pahalgam attack was planned. However, the fact was that India was unable to provide any proof to any country in the world that the tragic Pahalgam tragedy was in any way linked to Pakistan. Rather, it was unable to even convince a single country in the world that Pakistan was involved in these attacks. It seemed that Pahalgam was a false flag operation, about which the intelligence agencies of all the major countries had briefed their governments. Or that they were not convinced of the Pakistani link in this attack. So, from the very beginning, it was not a justified war , nor was it a defensive war, nor was it retaliation. Because Pakistan did not attack India. So, in philosophical and military terms, it was purely a war of aggression, power projection, a war of necessity. Because Prime Minister Modi had been waiting for six years to see when the French Rafale fighter jets would arrive and they would attack Pakistan. He had not forgotten the defeat in the short battle of 2019, the destruction of one of his MiG aircraft, and the capture of the Indian pilot. So, Operation Sundaro was actually an "honour restore" or "settle the score" war. Well friends, the Indian Air Force activated all its bases for this war, which were spread from the Arabian Sea in the south to occupied Kashmir in the north. That is, the entire eastern border of Pakistan was covered. These included Srinagar, Awantipora, Ambala, Bathinda, Suratgarh, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Uttarlai, Bhuj and Nalia airbases. The Sandru operation was to be led by French Rafales, which were to take off from Bathinda. Along with this, Mirage 2000, Sukhoi-30 and MiG-29 jets were also participating in the mission in large numbers. Some Jaguar and Tejas aircraft were also made part of the operation, but they were only in a supporting role. AWACS aircraft were also in the air to guide the jets. The Indian aircraft were also supported by the Russian-made S-400 air defence system. One unit of this system was installed at Adampur in Indian Punjab and the other at Bhuj airbase in Gujarat. These systems, with a defence range of 400 kilometres, were capable of detecting and shooting down aircraft from far away in Pakistani airspace. After midnight on the night of May 6 and 7, Indian aircraft received orders to attack Pakistan. 72 fighter jets from 10 Indian airbases began to take off. After reaching the airspace, these aircraft spread out in separate formations from Rajasthan to occupied Kashmir. The top formation of these aircraft was the one that had Rafale aircraft and was named "Godzilla" by the Indian Air Force. Curious fellows, when the Indian aircraft were taking off , the nerve centres of the Pakistani Air Force were watching the Indian formations live on the screens of their operation rooms. Radars and digital systems on the Pak-India border were providing digital signals of the entire situation. Because Pakistan was on high alert after the Pahalgam attack on April 22, when Indian leaders started making threats. Pakistani aircraft were also conducting security flights, combat air patrols, and caps during the day and night. Pakistan's early warning AWACS aircraft were also watching the movements of enemy jets in the air. Due to the high alert, Pakistani pilots were kept in waiting areas near the runways for quick retaliation. For the first response by Pakistan, five forward airbases, Bholari, Shahbaz, Rafiqi, Mushaf, Minhas and Peshawar were kept ready. Dozens of aircraft were also on alert at other airbases as backup. As soon as the Air Force Headquarters realised on the night between May 6 and 7, that the enemy was about to carry out a major operation, the Pakistan Air Force also received the order to fly. Pakistan's counter-attack against the Indian aircraft started within just two minutes. In the next few minutes, at least 42 Pakistani aircraft were in the air. Among the Pakistani aircraft, the Chinese-made J-10C aircraft were on the front line. They were flown by the Cobras of the No. 15 Squadron of the Pakistan Air Force. These planes took off from the PAF airbase Manhas in Kamra. At least 20 J-10Cs were stationed at this base, of which 8 were sent to engage the enemy and two were in reserve. Another 24 planes were in the supporting role of the J-10Cs. These were J-17 Block IIIs and Mirages. Probably a few F-16s were also part of this fight. But it was the J-10Cs at the front. The Pakistani planes were also supported by early warning, or AWACS, aircraft and air defences on the ground. By 1 am, the planes of both Pakistan and India had come face to face across the border. Including the AWACS and other supporting aircraft, on both sides, there were about a total of 115 to 125 jets. No pilot on either side could see their enemy planes. Only a few dots on the screens were showing where the enemy was in the air. These dots were to be tracked and attacked. It was apparently just like a video game. This was a completely new war in its character, unlike anything that had been fought before. In this war, Indian pilots were ordered not to enter Pakistani airspace under any circumstances. There were two reasons for this. One is that a few years ago, in 2019, Pakistan shot down Indian pilot Abhinandan's MiG-21 aircraft. The Pakistani Air Force had forced the aircraft to enter its airspace by manoeuvring because its electronic communication had been jammed. after which, it became easy to bring it to its side by dodging it. When the aircraft entered Pakistani airspace, it was shot down. Pakistan had captured its wreckage and arrested the pilot as well. The videos of the destroyed aircraft and the pilot had greatly embarrassed the Indian government and the Air Force. So, to avoid any embarrassment again, there were strict orders this time that no matter what happened, Indian aircraft would not enter Pakistani airspace. Interestingly, according to India, Abhinandan, who was a war hero and believed to have shot down Pakistani F-16s, which was obviously a 100% lie, should have been part of Operation Sundaro. But the fact was that he was not allowed even to come close to Operation Sundoor. Perhaps India did not want to demoralise its pilots, so it did not take this risk. So, the other reason for the Indian jets to stay in its airspace was that the Pakistan Air Force had the PL-15 missiles. The Indian Air Force estimated that these Pakistani missiles had a range of 145 kilometres. Therefore, it was necessary for the Indian planes to stay at least 150 kilometres behind the Pakistani border so that they could not be targeted within this range. But surprisingly, the intelligence of the Indian Air Force was not correct. That is because the range of the PL-15 missile was not 145 but 200 kilometres. It was a huge strategic blunder, which was very costly for the Indian leadership both militarily and politically. Friends, the long-range French missiles installed in the Indian planes were Meteors. Their maximum range was up to 150 kilometres and this was an open secret; the Pakistan Air Force knew it well. Since Pakistan could see the position of the Indian jets precisely in its command and control centres, they maintained this distance from the Indian jets in their airspace. And in this, the PAF had a narrow strategic advantage of 50 kilometres, which Pakistan could use to its full advantage. Then the Pakistani forces were ordered not to respond until India launched an attack so that it would be proven that India was the aggressor, not us. At 1:05 am, the Indian forces launched the attack. Indian planes and the Indian Army deployed along the Line of Control also opened fire on Pakistan. The Indians were firing X-caliber shells from M-777 ultralight howitzers. These GPS-guided shells were firing at a range of 35 to 40 kilometres. In the air and ground attacks, India targetted mosques, madrasas and homes at at least 9 locations in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir. These points were around Bahawalpur, Muridke, Sialkot, Shakargarh, Kotli and Muzaffarabad. At least 31 civilians, including innocent children and women, were killed in these attacks. Several mosques and their attached family quarters were destroyed. When the Indian army launched an aggressive attack on Pakistani sovereign territory, Pakistan now had legal justification to retaliate according to international law. The positions of the Indian jets were already clear in the command and control centres, so now they were all legitimate targets. The historic war of beyond-visual range missiles had begun. Curious Fellows, the first step to hitting any aircraft in modern warfare, it is to lock it. When an aircraft is locked, it takes such manoeuvres to break the lock, which are called evasive manoeuvres. In this, the aircraft takes sharp turns up and down quickly. Just like a wrestler who is in the grip of an opponent in the arena and is trying his best to release himself. Sometimes he succeeds, and sometimes he does not. So in the modern form of dogfight, lock and unlock is the name of a continuous effort in which the pilots have only a few seconds. In this game, Pakistan had a lot of technical advantages over Indian aircraft from the beginning. One advantage, as you already know, was that the Indian Air Force had incorrect information about Pakistani missile ranges and this was a deadly mistake, and because of this, its aircraft came within the killing range unaware. The second advantage was that Pakistan's expertise in electronic warfare was much greater than India's. Pakistan Air Force commanders monitored the verbal, non-verbal linked and radar communications of Indian aircraft in their war rooms. Moreover, this PAF could also jam the communications of the Indian Air Force. That is, Pakistan had an advantage over India in both cyber warfare and electronic warfare Friends, with these two big advantages, Pakistan started intercepting Indian aircraft. First, to confuse the enemy aircraft, without locking on any of the enemy aircraft, a missile was fired between the formation of Indian jets. This is called "RAPPI" in technical language. This gives the enemy an opportunity to retreat without fighting , so that he understands the superior power of the opponent and refrains from fighting. Pilots in target jets can see this missile coming but cannot understand which aircraft is its target. Because everyone thinks that another plane is locked, but it is not. This rapid fire reaches its targeted range and blasts, which spreads panic in the enemy formation. All the pilots start communicating with each other and the superior army understands a lot by hacking this communication. So Pakistan was the first to use this technique against Indian planes. A PL-15 missile was fired on the Punjab border, between the Indian jets' formation. When the missile exploded somewhere between these planes , according to the PAF, at least one Indian plane was damaged by its debris. But what damage was done is not confirmed, Yes, it is confirmed that no Indian aircraft was destroyed in this attack. After this, Pakistan started locking Indian aircraft across the Line of Control rapidly. On the other hand, Indian aircraft were also trying to lock Pakistani aircraft but were unable to do so repeatedly due to electronic disruption. Pakistan and India had a mismatch in EV, electronic warfare in which Pakistan had a clear superiority. Pakistan continuously disrupted Indian radars and non-verbal communications for an hour and this quality was not in the Indian estimation. While Indian aircraft could not lock and hit a single Pakistani fighter in the entire battle , the Pakistani Air Force locked several aircraft, of which the technical evidence of seven was also shown in the press conference on May 9. It was thus that PAF from J-10C aircraft fired PL-15 missiles towards seven Indian jets, including France's super hit Rafale aircraft. This landmark aircraft of the 4.5th Generation is the best fighter jet in the world and it detects the incoming attack with its radar system. But for this, it is necessary that the radar system of the incoming missile is on. While the PL-15 missiles that Pakistan had fired, had their radar system was temporarily turned off. During this time, these missiles were being guided by AWACS aircraft. The Indian radar system was jammed, so it was also unable to pass information to its aircraft. In such a situation, when the PL-15 missiles had reached 30 kilometres close to the Indian locked aircraft, then their radar system was turned on. That is, now the Indian pilots of Rafale aircraft and others could see on the radar screens of their aircraft that a missile was coming towards them at the speed of Mach 3, three times the speed of sound. But this 30 kilometres distance to a missile travelling at Mach 3 speed was to take a maximum of only 30 seconds to cover. So the pilots had no time for any manoeuvre. The only option left was to pull over and jump from the ejection seat. That is, save their lives with the automatic parachute system or make a last-ditch effort to save the plane in the last 30 seconds, in which their own lives could also be at stake. The Indian Air Force is a brave and professional army, so we cannot say how many pilots pulled over and how many tried to manoeuvre. But we do not know how many Indian pilots died in this one-hour battle. Because Indian officials have not clarified their losses. But according to the PAF, they had electronic evidence of the destruction of at least six Indian planes at the time they were hit. While the seventh plane was apparently hit, its destruction could not be confirmed by ground intelligence. Therefore, the Pakistan Air Force, PAF does not claim the destruction of the seventh Indian aircraft. The six aircraft for which the PAF takes credit include three Rafales, a Mirage 2000, a Sukhoi-30 and a MiG-29. The wreckage of at least four of these aircraft fell in occupied Kashmir and one in the Bathinda area of Indian Punjab. That is, around the same base from which the Rafale aircraft of the Godzilla formation took off. An important piece of evidence of the destruction of the Rafale aircraft was later presented by the Pakistan Air Force in a press conference. The PAF played the conversation of the wingman of the fourth Rafale aircraft of the Godzilla formation with the ground radar in which he was asking that I was not getting contact with my third aircraft and that I had also seen an explosion in the air. A fight between the two air forces continued for more than an hour. During this time, the Indian aircraft could not fire a single missile at the Pakistani jets. Their radars and communications were also being jammed repeatedly. When India lost at least six aircraft , the Pakistan Air Force gradually began to disengage itself under a strategy. That is, it gave the enemy aircraft a chance to get out of the target range. This is actually the best technique to keep escalation control in its hands , to give the enemy a way out. All mature militaries use this technique so that the war does not get out of control to become a war of egos. To avoid a perpetual war, each army gives the other a way out. So the Pakistani Air Force stopped locking the Indian aircraft and disrupting communications. The Indian Air Force used this safe passage and turned their aircraft on the bases on the ground. The Pakistan Air Force planes also returned to their bases. During this time, Pakistan's air superiority was proven in such a way that India had lost six of its planes while not a single Pakistani plane was hit. In the one-hour battle, the Pakistani Air Force had complete air dominance. Indian jets, far from hitting Pakistani jets, could not fire even a single missile. In this battle, not only India but also the French company that makes Rafale aircraft suffered a lot. Because till date, Rafale had never been hit, and this was its biggest marketing, and these planes were being sold out on this basis. But now at least three Rafales had been confirmed to have been shot down in just one hour. India tried very hard to hide this great embarrassment, but for two reasons, it could not hide the destruction of its planes. First of all, the reason why Vice Marshal Aurangzeb of the Pakistani Air Force held another detailed press conference with electronic signals on May 11, called the international media and showed how Pakistan hit Indian planes in retaliation. He also showed evidence of complete jamming and hacking of the Indian Air Force’s communication systems. While the Indian Air Force also held a detailed press conference on the same day, i.e. May 11. But nothing was clearly stated in it. Neither electronic signals were shown that they had hit any Pakistani plane or not. Neither did they admit or deny the destruction of their planes. Rather, the body language of the Indian officials in the press conference was also very depressed. It gave the message to the whole world that despite the technological superiority of the Rafale planes, Narendra Modi has failed in achieving his objectives. The second proof of the destruction of the Indian planes was that the very next day, the wreckage of the crashed planes was found in the occupied Kashmir and the Indian territories. For example, one video was of a plane crashing near Akhnoor, smoke rising from the wreckage. The other video was from Pulwama. It showed pieces of a plane. The Indian newspaper The Hindustan Times reported the news of the plane crash in Bathinda. This news was available on their website till the date of uploading this video. Apart from this, India's m