SOURCE: AFI
The Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) hosted a high-profile conference earlier this month to analyze the May 2025 India-Pakistan air war, focusing on the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) decisive strikes during Operation Sindoor. According to posts on X, one of the key speakers, RTAF Deputy Chief of Air Staff-Intelligence (DCAS-Int) Sommai Leelitham, lauded the IAF’s successful precision attacks on multiple Pakistan Air Force (PAF) bases, which were executed without any reported losses on the Indian side.
Leelitham highlighted the operation as a demonstration of Pakistan’s air defense vulnerabilities and a testament to the IAF’s effective shift in tactics, marking a significant milestone in South Asian aerial warfare.
Operation Sindoor, launched on May 7, 2025, was India’s retaliatory response to a Pakistan-backed terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, on April 22, 2025, which killed 26 civilians. The IAF conducted a series of meticulously planned strikes from May 7 to 10, targeting 11 of Pakistan’s 13 major airbases, including Nur Khan (Chaklala, Rawalpindi), Rafiqui (Shorkot), Murid (Chakwal), Rahim Yar Khan, Sukkur, Bholari, Jacobabad, Sargodha, Skardu, and radar sites at Pasrur and Sialkot. These strikes crippled critical PAF infrastructure, including runways, hangars, command centers, and high-value assets like a Saab 2000 Erieye airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft.
Leelitham emphasized that the IAF’s ability to strike deep into Pakistani territory with pinpoint accuracy, using advanced munitions like the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, SCALP air-launched cruise missile, and Israeli-made Harop loitering munitions, exposed significant gaps in Pakistan’s Chinese-supplied air defense systems, notably the HQ-9. The failure of these systems to intercept Indian missiles and drones was a focal point of the RTAF conference, with Leelitham noting that the PAF’s air defense network was rendered ineffective, allowing the IAF to achieve air superiority.
The RTAF conference underscored the IAF’s strategic shift in tactics during Operation Sindoor, which marked a departure from previous engagements. Unlike the 2019 Balakot airstrike, where the IAF faced challenges in countering PAF’s response, the 2025 operation showcased a multi-layered approach. The IAF employed decoy “dummy” aircraft to provoke Pakistani radar systems into revealing their positions, which were then neutralized by Harop loitering munitions. This cleared the path for precision strikes using BrahMos and SCALP missiles launched from Su-30MKI, Rafale, and Mirage 2000 jets. The operation, completed in just 23 minutes, demonstrated the IAF’s ability to jam and bypass Pakistan’s air defenses, including its Chinese-supplied HQ-9 systems.
Leelitham highlighted the IAF’s use of its S-400 air defense system as a game-changer, noting its role in neutralizing a PAF Saab 2000 Erieye AEW&C aircraft and thwarting Pakistani retaliatory strikes. The S-400’s sophisticated radar and long-range 40N6E missiles, combined with India’s Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS), ensured seamless coordination and detection of PAF intrusions at 26 locations on May 10, 2025. The destruction of the AEW&C aircraft at Bholari airbase and the degradation of 20–30% of Pakistan’s early warning capabilities severely hampered the PAF’s situational awareness, forcing it into a defensive posture.
The conference spotlighted the PAF’s inability to counter the IAF’s offensive, with Leelitham pointing to the failure of Pakistan’s air defense network as a critical vulnerability. Satellite imagery from Kawa Space and Maxar Technologies confirmed extensive damage to PAF infrastructure, including a 60-foot-wide hole in a hangar at Bholari, craters on runways at Rahim Yar Khan and Sargodha, and destroyed radar installations in Pasrur and Sialkot. The PAF’s reliance on Chinese systems, such as the HQ-9 and JF-17 Block III fighters equipped with PL-15 missiles, was undermined by their inability to intercept low-flying, high-speed BrahMos missiles or detect IAF drones. This failure not only humiliated Pakistan but also raised questions about the reliability of Chinese military technology, a point of discussion at the RTAF conference.
The PAF’s losses included over a dozen aircraft, with confirmed reports of one Mirage-5, two JF-17s, one F-16, a C-130, and a Saab 2000 Erieye AEW&C, as detailed by air warfare historian Tom Cooper. The destruction of these assets, combined with damaged runways and command centers, has set back PAF operations by an estimated five years, with repair costs running into billions amid Pakistan’s ongoing economic crisis. Leelitham noted that the PAF’s defensive relocation of surviving aircraft to rear bases and its silence on these losses underscored the operation’s devastating impact.
The RTAF conference, attended by military analysts and air force representatives, framed Operation Sindoor as a case study in modern air warfare, with the IAF’s tactics offering lessons for air forces worldwide. Leelitham emphasized that the IAF’s zero-loss operation—despite Pakistan’s claims of downing up to six Indian jets, including Rafales, a MiG-29, and a Su-30MKI—demonstrated India’s technological and operational superiority. These claims were largely dismissed as propaganda, with India providing radar data and satellite imagery to refute them, though some reports, such as those from Le Monde, suggested possible Indian losses, including a Rafale, which India has not officially acknowledged.
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