New Delhi: Did the Indian Navy’s P-8I Poseidon long range maritime surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft use their missiles during Operation Sindoor?
India’s immediate reaction after the attack on nine terror establishments in Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) and Pakistan was that fighter jets operating from within Indian airspace received support from Indian Navy assets, in what was a coordinated operation.
The P-8Is of the Indian Navy carry AGM-84L Harpoon Block II anti-ship missiles. These missiles can also be used for land-based targets. Their beyond the horizon Beyond Visual Range (BVR) capability makes it an ideal weapon for such strikes, along with the SCALP cruise missiles fired by the Rafales?
Another feature of the Harpoons is their surface-skimming capability. These missiles can actually hug the sea surface (or ground) as they travel towards their targets. This makes detection by radar extremely difficult.
“Pakistan’s missile defence system was clearly caught mapping. Probably the timing mattered. The attack started at 1.05 am. Maybe, that is when the guard is down for some reason. It is also possible that the missiles could not be detected at all due to counter measures and electronic jamming,” an official said.
According to another official, Pakistan may have been expecting an attack of a more physical nature like the surgical strike after Uri and the Balakot air attack. The chinks in Pakistan’s missile defence armour became clear in March 2022 after a Brahmos, ‘accidentally’ launched by the IAF, flew through that country’s airspace undetected before crashing harmlessly into Mian Channu in the Khanewal district of Pakistan’s Punjab province. Some believe that India was then probing Pakistan’s missile defences.
Ever since the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir that left 26 persons, mostly tourists from across the country, dead and several others injured, Pakistan has kept its forces on high alert. Investigations carried out by India have revealed that the massacre in Pahalgam was masterminded in Pakistan and at least two of the terrorists physically involved were Pakistanis.
It is then a matter of discomfiture that Pakistan allowed so many missiles and kamikaze drones (loitering munitions) to get through.
