How India Used Dummy Aircraft to Deceive Pakistan During Operation Sindoor

Operation Sindoor, India's coordinated military retaliation following the deadly 22 April 2003 Pahalgam terror attack, sent a stern message against terrorism by striking nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. However, the Pakistan military was caught between the rock of Indian Armed Forces and the hard place of misdirection.

According to ANI, quoting defence sources, The Indian Air Force launched dummy aircraft looking and sounding like fighter jets to lure and disable the Chinese-supplied air-defence systems of Pakistan during Operation Sindoor.

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Eleven of the twelve vital Pakistani air bases were attacked on the night of May 9-10. Before the IAF launched missile attacks, it dispatched unmanned target aircraft camouflaged as real fighter aircraft on purpose.

Pakistani radars went frantic trying to knock down what they thought to be India's incoming fighter jets, while the activation of the HQ-9 missile system gave away their location for an attack.

The Pakistan Air Force shifted its entire array of HQ-9 air defence missile system launchers and radars to various locations, positioning some of them at new locations but were detected and attacked after activation, ANI reported.

The Indian Air Force then followed with the long-range missile attacks on the airbases in Pakistan, employing BrahMos and Scalp missiles. From the offensive about 15 BrahMos missiles and Scalp, Rampage, and Crystal Maze missiles were launched.

These strikes hit airstrips and hangars as well as communication infrastructure far and wide across Pakistan's air force network and even reportedly hit an airborne early warning aircraft and a few long-endurance drones in Sindh. Defense sources said that this is the first-ever known firing of BrahMos missile system in active conflict.

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Sources informed ANI that these strikes at its air bases were so intense that the Pakistani side abandoned all plans for any counter to the collapse of their air defence system and urgently requested DGMO talks to arrive at an 'understanding' with India on putting all further military actions on hold.

The mission packages were flown mainly out of the Western Air Command and the Southwestern Air Command areas of responsibility.

The attempts by the Pakistani Air Force to target India land attack ballistic missiles, air-launched cruise missiles, and unmanned combat aerial vehicles were neutralized mostly by a combination of the Russian S-400, MRSAM, and Akash air defence missile systems, combined with some older systems.

Last week, both India and Pakistan announced the immediate ceasefire of all hostilities across land, air, and sea.

But hours after the ceasefire agreement, a series of drone sightings and explosions set off in Jammu and Kashmir, and Indian security forces activated air defence to neutralise the aerial threat.

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