Op Sindoor: Primacy of Aerospace Domain for Punitive Operations

A clear observation after initial study of the success of Operation Sindoor was primacy of Aerospace domain for punitive operations.

This includes not only combat fighters of the Indian Air Force but also the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles popularly known as drones, critical air defence assets, satellites and the synergy achieved through a linked communication architecture connecting not just sensors and shooters but also command levels - strategic to the tactical.

The aerospace domain is service agnostic, thus while the Indian Air Force was the primary agency that exploited fighter and Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles [UCAVs] to carry out precision attacks on terrorist infrastructure and air bases in Pakistan, critical air and missile defence assets of the IAF such as the Russian supplied S 400 was seen pivotal to defeating the drone swarms of the adversary spread across the entire expanse of the Western border with Pakistan.

The Indian Army also used UCAVs and provided a very effective air defence cover to multiple areas defeating Pakistan’s drone swarms.

The space domain with dedicated military satellites created the multiplier effect and had a critical role to play.

In this environment with multiple services using varied sensors and shooters, coordination is the touch point provided by the Indian Air Force [IAF] Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS).

Prime Minister’s Acknowledgement of Aero Space Primacy

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s visit to Air Force Station at Adampur, Punjab  on May 13 is symbolic as it clearly outlined the coming into age of the aerospace domain.

The Prime Minister emphasised the precision with which the Indian Air Force’s strikes successfully targeted terrorist hideouts deep within Pakistan within just 20-25 minutes.

 “Every moment of Operation Sindoor stands as a testament to the strength and capability of India's armed forces”, exclaimed Shri Modi, praising the exceptional coordination among the Army, Navy, and Air Force, stating that their synergy was remarkable. He highlighted the Navy's dominance over the seas, the Army’s reinforcement of the borders, and the Indian Air Force’s dual role in attack and defence.

Employment of Offensive Air Power

The Indian Air Force targeted the camps and infrastructure in Bahawalpur and Muridke deep inside Pakistan’s Punjab while the Army took on seven terrorist camps and hubs making a total of 9 taken on by the force on night of 06 and 07  which killed over 100 terrorists.

The Indian Air Force used  Rafale fighter jets launching Scalp cruise missiles and Hammer smart weapons on the night of May 06 and 07.

This was followed up by targeting eight Pakistani military sites on May 08 and 09 such as airbases, radar units and ammunition dumps which forced Pakistan to throw in the towel seeking DGMO talks on May 10 at 1700 seeking a cease fire.

The Pakistan air bases included Sargodha, Rafiqui, Sukkur, Murid, and Nur Khan, which house F-16s, JF-16s, and Mirage 5As.

The precision and lethality of these missiles had a telling impact at several Pakistan Air Force bases demonstrated by graphic satellite images – before and after – by the IAF during the media briefings.

Use of Armed UAVs.

Armed UAVs were also extensively used by the Indian Air Force and the Indian Army. The latter employed SkyStriker one way drones [loitering and attack capability] —manufactured in Bengaluru by Alpha Design Technologies in Operation Sindoor strikes on May 7, targeting terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK).

Indian Air Force employed Israeli-made HAROP loitering munitions to strike deep inside Pakistani territory for neutralising air defence systems, including one near Lahore.

Air, Missile and Drone Defence

Pakistan in turn launched a series of swarms of 300-400 Turkish-made Songar drones targeting military installations across 36 locations in Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, and Punjab, these however caused limited damage due to their inherent limitations against the highly coordinated air, missile and drone defence systems employed by the Indian armed forces.

S-400 air defence systems, Akash surface-to-air missiles, Barak 8 defences, and anti-drone systems were seen as primary to defence of the air space from Pakistan’s drone swarms.

On the ground legacy L-70 anti-aircraft guns, Zu-23mm cannons, Schilka systems, and counter-unmanned aerial systems (CUAS) were deployed to intercept Pakistani drones.

Synergy

Towards this end, synergy of multiple air defence systems with the air force and the army is important.

The director general of air operations, Air Marshal AK Bharti, highlighted the heroes behind India’s ‘Operation Sindoor’, specifically the Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS).

.

The IACCS is an automated Air Defense Command and Control center for controlling and monitoring air operations by the Indian Air Force as per details provided by the Hindustan Times. Recognised Air Situation Picture (RASP) information is available at multiple levels strategic level (Air Headquarters), Operational level (Command Headquarters), and Tactical Level (Divisional level).

The IACCS in turn receives data from different types of homogeneous/ heterogeneous radars (2-D or 3-D), generate reports from mobile observation posts, and integrates other data elements from various other Air Force Airbases or Civilian agencies viz Air Traffic Control, Air Force Movement Liaison Unit including airborne AWACS, etc. to create real-time comprehensive Recognised Air Situation Picture (RASP) at IACCS Command & Control Centre (C & C Centre).

Data is shared through dedicated links among the Navy, Army, and Civil Radar networks.

The Space Domain

Operation Sindoor saw the employment of large number of space assets, both domestic and international commercial as reported Economic Times.

Indian Space Association (ISpA) director-general Lt Gen (retd) AK Bhat, said, “There would have been extensive use of space assets for imagery, sat-com (satellite communication) and PNT (positioning, navigation and timing). Space technology is an integral part of modern warfare.”

Isro chairman V Narayanan confirmed that 10 satellites work round the clock for the armed forces without directly referring to Operation Sindoor.

“All of our strategic assets were put to use in different ways by our armed forces for Operation Sindoor. Our teams have been working round the clock and we are proud that Isro could help our forces in missions important for the country,” a senior official from Isro was quoted by the Times of India. 

India has 9-11 military satellites directly available with the armed force and data was also acquired from commercial sources as Maxar. Ironically it is now revealed that there was a surge of demands for satellite images of Pahalgam to Maxar prior to the attack on April 22.

 “Indian satellites provide periodic data - with downloads of specific areas possible about once in 14 days. This data was made use of, while they used commercial data that’s available once a day too,” the ISRO official was quoted by the Times. 

The Cartosat  series has progressively improved with Cartosat-2C, delivering images with a resolution of 0.65 metres thus providing very detailed picture of the desired areas.

Risat family of satellites provide radar images useful to track movement, while the Gsat family of satellites were used for communications.

In the next five years, India is expected to launch 52 satellites part of the Space-Based Surveillance-3 (SBS-3) programme and 31 of these will be developed by the private sector

Background to India’s Space Capability Build Up

As a premier space faring nation, India has been relatively slow in deploying satellites for exclusive use by the armed forces commonly known as military satellites.

One of the factors was sanctions and restrictions imposed by the major space powers so to say the United States and Russia (Soviet Union) from time to time mainly in terms of providing technology for launch vehicles.

However contributions of these nations particularly Russia (Soviet Union) in developing India’s space capabilities in general in the civil spectrum remains substantial.

The denial of technologies prevented the deployment of heavy satellites which can carry military payload.

These inhibitions are now removed and India’s stated capabilities are to launch up to 2 tonnes by the Geo-Stationery Launch Vehicle (GSLV)

Role of Military Satellites

Military satellites like other platforms are used for a variety of tasks that facilitate operations by providing the following (1) Reconnaissance (2) Navigation (3) Early warning and (4) Communications.

These are dual use functions for civilian as well as military use, however increasingly satellites for exclusive military purposes have been launched by larger space faring nations including India.

Even though India conducted an Anti Satellite Test in March this year, New Delhi has ratified the Outer Space Treaty. Article IV of the Treaty prohibits signatories from installing weapons of mass destruction in Earth orbit.

Indian Military Satellites

As per the Military Balance 2018 (IISS 2018) India has 12 Satellites in orbit for military purposes. The launch of the EMISAT on 01 April just after the Anti Satellite Test (ASAT) has increased the number of R & S assets to 13.

The main categories of these satellites are for Navigation, Communications and Reconnaissance.

For Navigation and positioning which is an essential function for military providing exclusive data for terrain guidance amongst other purposes India has the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System [IRNSS], the space segment of which is known as the NavIC.

NavIC is based on eight satellites. IRNSS-1 A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F, 1G and 1I.

IRNSS 1 A developed a problem of atomic clock and thus had to be replaced by IRNSS 1I

IRNSS: NavIC Now Fully Operational

Applications of IRNSS as per the ISRO are Terrestrial, Aerial and Marine Navigation, Disaster Management, Vehicle tracking and fleet management, Integration with mobile phones, Visual and voice navigation for drivers, Precise Timing, Mapping and Geodetic data capture. All these have important functions for the military domain and will overcome the dependency on the Global Positioning System (GPS) where controls rests with the United States and denial of service remains a concern.

India has two communications satellites GSAT 7 for the Indian Navy and GSAT 7 A for the Indian Air Force with 30% capacity to be shared with the Indian Army.

As per Military Balance 2018 (IISS 2018) India has three reconnaissance satellites. 1 Cartosat 2C and 2 RISAT. In addition the EMISAT has been launched on 01 April that makes it four satellites for Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Intelligence purposes.

To supplement this grid with the RISAT 1 having outlived space life, RISAT 2 B is proposed to be launched on 15 May followed by RISAT-2BR1 in July, RISAT-2BR2 in October and RISAT-1A in November reports First Post.

In addition Cartosat 3 is proposed to be deployed specifically for the armed forces with advanced remotes sensing tools with, “better spatial range and resolution.”

Thus India will have large number of military satellites in the coming years.