India Unleashes Operation Sindoor: Decoys, Drones, and a Knockout Blow at Bholari Air Base
India’s Operation Sindoor wasn’t your average cross-border tangle. On the nights of May 9 and 10, 2025, the Indian Air Force (IAF) rolled out a textbook playbook of deception and devastation against Pakistan’s defenses, surprising even seasoned military watchers. Instead of launching straight into combat, the IAF started with decoy maneuvers—sending up dummy aircraft that mimicked the flight paths and signals of real fighters. This clever ruse forced Pakistan’s radar crews and air defense operators to go on full alert, flipping the switch on their expensive HQ-9 missile batteries and other sensor systems.
But that’s exactly what India wanted. As soon as those Pakistani radars lit up, Indian teams fired off Harop loitering munitions. These are basically kamikaze drones specially designed to sniff out and destroy air defense radars. Once key portions of the radar net were fried, the IAF kicked open the door for its most potent tool in the shed: the BrahMos cruise missile.
BrahMos Strikes: Destroying the Heart of Pakistan’s Air Defense
This is where things went from tense to catastrophic for Pakistan. Four BrahMos missiles, reportedly fired from Su-30 MKI jets, locked onto critical targets at Bholari Air Base near Karachi—a sprawling site where Pakistan’s crown-jewel Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft was parked in a supposedly secure hangar. According to retired Pakistani Air Marshal Masood Akhtar, who broke the silence on this operation, it was the fourth BrahMos that smashed into the AWACS hangar. There were at least some casualties, and the destruction of the AWACS is far more devastating than losing any ordinary aircraft. This was Pakistan’s most advanced flying radar and command post, key for detecting incoming threats and guiding interceptors.
Alongside the AWACS, reports suggest that Indian strikes also devastated runways, hardened fighter shelters, and command nodes at Bholari. Other high-value assets—like long-endurance drones and another airborne early-warning plane—were hit as well. Suddenly, sections of Pakistan’s air defense and offensive capability vaporized in just a few short hours. With runways cratered and key command centers out of action, Pakistan’s ability to respond quickly with counterattacks was crippled.
The scale of the BrahMos strikes left Pakistan scrambling. According to sources close to the operation, Pakistani military leaders rushed to initiate a Director-General of Military Operations meeting and began asking for a ceasefire. The sheer intensity and precision of the attacks left little choice.
While Masood Akhtar’s public admission remains unconfirmed by official sources, it lines up closely with Indian statements about the use of high-precision, niche weapons. Indian Wing Commander Vyomika Singh acknowledged the operation’s cutting-edge kit—though she steered clear of giving exact details.
The May 2025 events marked more than just the first combat use of the BrahMos missile in this conflict. They put India’s advanced operational tactics and coordination on display, giving Pakistan—and the world—a stark new snapshot of India’s military edge. Even without complete official records, the smoke, craters, and desperate calls for talks tell volumes about what went down over Pakistan’s southern skies.