In an exclusive interview with Life of Soldiers, Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal A. P. Singh, shared his insights on the key operational lessons of Operation Sindoor and how they will shape the Indian Air Force’s campaign planning over the next decade.
The question posed to the Air Chief and his detailed response are reproduced below:
Life of Soldiers: Operation Sindoor achieved its aims quickly and then stopped. What is the single most important operational lesson from Sindoor that will shape IAF campaign planning for the next decade?
Air Chief Marshal AP Singh: Operation Sindoor holds lessons at every level of warfare: tactical, operational and strategic. But if I had to single out the most important one, the lesson for us as a nation is the centrality of air power to modern warfare. Operation Sindoor established air power as an instrument of compellence. Through its unique characteristics, air power can make an adversary change course swiftly and decisively, and on our terms.
The very fact that the operation achieved its aims quickly and then stopped is the clearest proof of that lesson. Compellence is about achieving the desired effect and imposing our will, not about delivering the maximum possible force. Air power is uniquely suited to this. Its strategic reach, rapid response, operational tempo and precision gave the national leadership the broadest spectrum of options, from subtle deterrence to decisive action. It also allowed us to calibrate our response precisely and keep control of escalation, even while operating under the nuclear umbrella.
The effects were there for all to see. With calibrated targeting across the entire front, spanning 1,200 km in breadth and 200 km in depth, we made it clear that no place is beyond the IAF’s reach. Some of our indigenously developed weapons performed exceptionally, delivering precise and crippling blows deep into enemy territory, while we honoured our commitment to zero collateral damage. At the same time, our home-grown, networked air defence defeated the drones and stand-off weapons launched against us, so the nation could act from a position of security and confidence. Offence and defence, working together, gave the operation its decisive edge.
This lesson will shape IAF campaign planning for the next decade. Our plans will be built around air power as the instrument of first choice, the means by which the nation can respond rapidly, compel decisively and control what follows. That places a premium on what makes compellence possible: long-range precision and stand-off weapons, persistent ISR, resilient networks, layered and cost-effective air defence, electronic warfare and unmanned systems, all integrated within a joint, multi-domain framework. It also demands self-reliance, so that the instruments of compellence remain truly our own.
Operation Sindoor reaffirmed what air power can achieve for the nation. The IAF is committed to building on that lesson, so that whenever India’s interests demand it, air power can once again deliver decisive results swiftly, precisely and on the nation’s terms.
