Less Than 50 Weapons Fired by IAF Forced Pak to Call for Ending Conflict: Vice-Chief of Air Staff

PTI, NEW DELHI, AUG 30, 2025 :  Less than 50 weapons fired by the Indian Air Force at carefully chosen Pakistani military targets forced Islamabad by mid-day of May 10 to request the end of military hostilities, Vice Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari said on Saturday.

Air Marshal Tiwari, recounting the mission, said the IAF was able to achieve "complete domination" over the Pakistan military with the strikes that were carried out following Pakistan's attack on the intervening night of May 9 and 10.

"I must tell you that it was a key takeaway for us that in less than 50 weapons, we were able to achieve complete domination. It has not happened before," Tiwari said at the NDTV Defence Summit.

The senior IAF officer, who played a key role in Operation Sindoor, said some of the Pakistan targets that were "taken out" in the course of the mission were not hit even during the 1971 war.

"We made every weapon count and that is a tacit acknowledgement of the capability of our planners and people who executed the missions," he said.

India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terrorist infrastructure in territories controlled by Pakistan in response to the Pahalgam terror attack. The strikes triggered four days of intense clashes that ended with an understanding on stopping the military actions on May 10.

The Vice Chief of Air Staff also elaborated on the sequence of events relating to Operation Sindoor and showed certain graphic details of India's response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.

Air Marshal Tiwari said India was not willing to escalate the situation following its strikes on Pakistani terror infrastructure on the early morning of May 7.