May 2025 Air War: From Assumed Superiority to Operational Shock

May 2025 Air War: From Assumed Superiority to Operational Shock

On the night of May 6 and 7, 2025, the Indian Air Force (IAF) faced an unprecedented setback: The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) downed seven Indian aircraft during a high-intensity aerial engagement. This included the state-of-the-art Rafale fighters, regarded as the linchpin of India’s air power modernization, which was a game-changing event. The outcome represented the breakdown of an assumption that had shaped Indian strategic thought in the perio…

Inside the PAF Kill Chain – May 2025 Air Operations Explained

Air combat has come a long way from traditional visual based kinetic manoeuvre warfare. Modern aerial combat relies heavily on technological sophistication which has given the birth to new concepts such as Beyond Visual Range (BVR) capability, multi domain operations, systems and network centric warfare. This complex web of intertwined capabilities, platforms and domains culminates into a single kill chain providing a firing solution. On 7 May 2…