MORE INFORMATION ABOUT INDIAN AIR STRIKES

 It has been 22 days (May 10th) since the Indian Air Force carried out their 25 minute blitz into Pakistan which obliterated about 20% or possibly more of Pakistan's air assets. 

The information about the Indian attack is minimal especially from the Indian side. Other than one short briefing within a few days after their attack the Indian Air Force and government has not provided any other information.

It is not sure now exactly how many airbases and military targets were hit and what was the extent of the damage. Information is not forthcoming or it is being understated. However after three weeks slightly more information is now coming out of both Pakistan and India.

Local eyewitness reports from Pakistan - which are going around in social media - state at least FOUR strikes at the various target locations. Meaning at least four missile strikes or glide bombs (for ex. Spice 2000 bombs) were carried out at each location. That is at least 48 missiles and bombs that found their mark.

From the available informationn thus far the exact number of airbases hit has also varied between 9 to 12 bases. Pakistan has a total of 16 airbases. There are also other targets like nuclear arsenal storage sites which are not listed anywhere which may have also been hit (Kirana, Chaklala, Chagai?)  

Here are some interesting pictures released just a few days back (Source Maxar Satellite Images) which show a portion of the damage inflicted at Pakistan's Muridke Airbase. 

Muridke airbase is located in Muridke, Pakistan, which is roughly 25 km from the Indian border. Muridke is relatively close to the International Boundary (IB) with India

The SPICE 2000 glide bomb (2 metric tons) which is in the inventory of the Indian air force has a range of approximately 60 kilometers. The Brahmos missile has a range of up to 350 km. 

The pictures shows the ground surface atop an underground facility at Muridke. The yellow arrow on the left shows a road tunnel entrance into the underground facility. It does not appear a large enough facility (30 meter radius??) to tow jet fighters, UAVs into storage. It looks like this underground facility is for other purposes most likely ammunition and spares storage. 

The second yellow arrow shows a neat round hole (3 meters or 10 feet wide) punched cleanly and precisely in the middle of that red circle. The Indian Air Force had the exact coordinates and accuracy for such a precise strike. The Brahmos missile can strike a target within 1.0 meter accuracy after flying 350 km (1 meter CEP). 

Quite obviously it is an entry hole for a bunker busting missile or a heavy glide bomb.  There is no debris around the rather clean hole. Either the debris has been cleaned up or there was no outward explosion. There is scorching of the grass implying that flames had shot out of the hole. The flames could have been produced by secondary ignition of materials stored inside.

It is obvious that whichever missile or bomb was used (Brahmos, Scalp, Spice 2000) it was fitted with a hardened warhead to penetrate the bunker and explode underground. A hardened missile warhead can penetrate 120 feet of earth or 12-20 feet of concrete.  In such event the explosion would have been largely contained underground causing extensive damage to the facility and everything stored inside would have been destroyed or severely damaged. 

 

Obviously Indian intel was detailed and accurate. They knew exactly where and what to hit and how to hit it precisely. 

What was stored underground? More importantly this was not the only underground facility in Pakistan. There are others. But the Indians chose to hit this particular site and a few others (Kirana, Chaklala, Chagai?)  Why?

It was immediately after these strikes (which lasted 25 minutes in the early hours of May 10th 2025) that Pakistan asked for a ceasefire.  In 25 minutes the Pakistanis lost about a fifth of their air assets. Plus in at least 12 airbases their runways had 60 feet wide craters making it impossible for flight operations. The airbases had been rendered practically useless.

A week after the hostilities ended some of these craters in the runways had still not been filled in and repaired.  The normal time to repair cratered runways at military airbases is less than 12 hours - they use special quick drying cement to patch things up.

For quick and efficient repair of damaged military runways, rapid-setting cements or polymer concretes are used. These materials allow for faster curing times, enabling runways to be reopened more quickly after repairs, minimizing disruptions to military operations.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.