Words Eye View: A High-Stakes Look At Operation Sindoor

One significant change since Narendra Modi took over as the Prime Minister of India is the assertiveness of India’s response to attacks by Pakistan-based terrorists. Earlier, India’s response to major terror attacks like the attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001 or the multiple strikes in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, was tentative, bordering on timid.

After the attack on the Parliament, Indian armed forces mobilised, but after a few months of eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation, they withdrew. The response to the Mumbai attacks was even more timid. All India did was to provide proof to Pakistan that the terrorists had come from that country.

Under Modi, it has been different. India has stopped succumbing to Pakistan’s nuclear blackmail. After the Uri terror strike, India responded with surgical strikes on terrorist staging camps across the border. After the Pulwama suicide bombing on a CRPF convoy, India responded by bombing and neutralising a Jaish-e-Mohammad training camp in Balakot. India’s response to the Pahalgam terror strike was Operation Sindoor.

It saw the most intense air warfare activity between India and Pakistan since 1971, definitely the most severe air battle between two nuclear-armed nations. Vishu Som’s “The Sky Warriors: Operation Sindoor Unveiled” is a thrilling account of this conflict.

Som is perhaps uniquely qualified to write about the subject (until one of the senior Indian Air Force officers decides to write a memoir). A senior journalist, he has been a defence analyst and a highly knowledgeable military aviation enthusiast.

His familiarity with air power enables him to explain complex concepts such as beyond-visual-range combat, suppression of enemy air defences (SEAD), electronic warfare, and integrated air defence systems in language accessible to general readers. This ability to simplify sophisticated military operations without sacrificing accuracy makes the book engaging for both defence enthusiasts and newcomers to military affairs.

He also has excellent connections in the senior echelons of the Indian Air Force (IAF), which gives access for interviews that wouldn’t be possible for someone else. He uses it to deliver an analysis of the decision-making process behind the missions, showing how intelligence, planning, technology, and pilot skill work together to accomplish operational goals. Readers understand the coordination between fighter squadrons, surveillance assets, missile units, and command centres, demonstrating that modern warfare relies as much on information and precision as on firepower.

One of the most compelling elements of the book is its focus on the people operating the machines. While modern fighter aircraft often capture the public imagination, Som consistently highlights that technology's effectiveness depends on the professionals behind it. By including interviews with pilots, mission planners, air defence operators, and senior commanders, the book showcases the intense pressure these personnel face when making critical decisions on the spot. These personal accounts enhance the authenticity and emotional impact, turning what might have been a purely technical narrative into a captivating human story.

A veteran television journalist, Som has spent his career bringing breaking news stories to his viewers. He uses all that experience to maintain the same urgency throughout the book. Individual missions unfold with suspense, and the narrative frequently shifts between cockpit perspectives and command headquarters, creating a cinematic quality without becoming sensational. His concise style ensures that even readers unfamiliar with military terminology remain engaged throughout the book.

Air combat in today’s times is far more technical than the ‘Biggles’ adventure books that some of us grew up reading. This is where the author’s vast experience in reporting on military aviation comes into play. Som explains the capabilities and limitations of modern fighter aircraft, missile systems, surveillance platforms, and electronic warfare assets without overwhelming the reader with jargon. He successfully demonstrates how contemporary air warfare extends far beyond traditional dogfights, involving sophisticated networks of sensors, communications, and precision-guided weapons. For military technology enthusiasts, these sections are especially insightful, revealing both what happened and why certain tactical decisions were made.

Considering that the book is about a military operation that hasn’t officially ended but is on pause, there are certain constraints the author has faced. While he has interviewed several senior IAF officers, he is unable to name quite a few or even locations of some critical command centres. But that is okay. In fact, that he is able to disclose so much of the technology and decision-making processes is itself a testimony to the access that he has within the establishment.

While operations like Sindoor impose an increasingly stiff cost on Pakistan for supporting terror, will it deter that country’s ruling establishment? The answer, unfortunately, is no. As Professor C Christine Fair said in her book Fighting to the End – Pakistani Army’s Way of War, the Pakistani Army’s definition of defeat is slightly different. “To be defeated is not to lose on the battlefield; rather, defeat is to forego the opportunity or ability to keep resisting India and the agenda that Pakistan ascribes to its eastern nemesis,” she said. Alas!

Book: The Sky Warriors: Operation Sindoor Unveiled

Author: Vishnu Som

Publisher: Juggernaut

Pages: 100

Price: Rs 259