Operation Sindoor: What Happened During the 88 Hours Between India and Pakistan?
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Operation Sindoor began in the early hours of May 7, 2025, when India struck nine locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir following the Pahalgam terror attack. What began as a targeted counter-terror operation developed into an intense India-Pakistan military confrontation involving missiles, drones, air-defence systems, artillery and strikes on military installations before both sides agreed to halt military action on May 10.
More than a year later, Operation Sindoor remains one of the most consequential episodes in recent India-Pakistan relations.
India officially described its opening action as “focused, measured and non-escalatory”, saying Pakistani military facilities were deliberately excluded from the initial target list. The strikes followed the April 22, 2025 terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 people, 25 Indian nationals and one Nepali citizen.
But events did not stop with the opening strikes.
Over approximately 88 hours, the confrontation expanded across the air, land and electronic domains before the Directors General of Military Operations of India and Pakistan agreed that military action would stop at 5 PM IST on May 10. India later officially commemorated the first anniversary as an 88-hour operation.
Operation Sindoor at a Glance
Operation Sindoor at a Glance
Trigger: Pahalgam terror attack
Operation began: May 7, 2025
Initial targets announced by India: 9
Initial target type: Terror infrastructure
Areas: Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir
Duration of subsequent confrontation: Approximately 88 hours
Military action halted: May 10, 2025
Forces involved: Indian Army, Indian Air Force and Indian Navy
Why did India launch Operation Sindoor?
The immediate trigger was the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
Twenty-six people were killed in the attack. In announcing Operation Sindoor, India's Ministry of Defence said the strikes were intended to hold those responsible for the attack accountable.
The operation also represented a broader shift in India's response to major cross-border terror attacks.
Rather than limiting the response to diplomatic measures, India chose direct military action against locations it identified as terror infrastructure.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh subsequently characterised Operation Sindoor as India's exercise of its “right to respond” to an attack on Indian soil.
What happened on May 7?
In the early hours of May 7, 2025, India announced that its armed forces had launched Operation Sindoor.
According to the Ministry of Defence, nine sites were targeted in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
India said the locations represented infrastructure from which terrorist attacks against India had been planned and directed.
Crucially, India's initial announcement stressed that Pakistani military facilities had not been targeted.
The government described the strikes as calibrated and said restraint had been exercised both in the selection of targets and in the method of execution.
That distinction mattered.
The initial objective, according to India's official account, was to strike terror infrastructure while avoiding a broader military confrontation with Pakistan.
The situation, however, changed rapidly.
From targeted strikes to a wider military confrontation
By the night of May 7–8, Operation Sindoor had entered a different phase.
India said Pakistan attempted to engage several military targets across northern and western India using drones and missiles.
Locations named by India's Ministry of Defence included Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bathinda, Phalodi and Bhuj, among others.
India said these attempts were countered by its Integrated Counter-UAS Grid and air-defence systems.
The following morning, India said its armed forces targeted Pakistani air-defence radars and systems in response.
At the same time, artillery exchanges intensified along the Line of Control.
What had started as a targeted strike operation was evolving into a broader confrontation.
The drone battle of Operation Sindoor
One of the most significant features of Operation Sindoor was the scale of drone warfare.
At an official briefing on May 9, India said drones had been detected at 36 locations, stretching from Leh in the north to Sir Creek in the west.
Indian officials estimated that approximately 300 to 400 drones had been involved in those incursions.
According to the Indian briefing, some were brought down using both kinetic and non-kinetic countermeasures. Officials said preliminary examination of recovered debris indicated the possible use of Turkish-origin ASISGUARD SONGAR drones.
The episode demonstrated how unmanned systems had become central to a confrontation between two nuclear-armed states.
Drones could potentially be used for surveillance, intelligence collection, testing air-defence responses and offensive missions - creating a battlefield far more technologically complex than traditional artillery exchanges alone.
Air defence became central to the conflict
Operation Sindoor also highlighted the growing importance of integrated air defence.
India's official accounts describe a layered response involving counter-drone systems and air-defence networks.
By July 2026, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh publicly said systems including Akash Teer, the Akash missile system and BrahMos had been used during Operation Sindoor.
This is one reason Operation Sindoor has attracted attention from military analysts.
Modern warfare increasingly depends not only on the ability to launch missiles or aircraft but also on the ability to detect, track and intercept incoming drones, missiles and other aerial threats.
Operation Sindoor provided India with a real-world test of several elements of that network.
Why the three services mattered
Operation Sindoor was not presented by India as an Air Force operation alone.
Government accounts subsequently described it as a tri-services response, involving coordination among the Indian Army, Indian Air Force and Indian Navy.
The Air Force played a central role in the aerial dimension.
The Army remained engaged along the Line of Control and in air-defence and counter-drone operations.
The Navy's deployment added a maritime dimension and placed additional strategic pressure on Pakistan.
This coordination, often described in defence terminology as jointness- has become increasingly important as warfare expands across land, air, sea, space, cyber and electronic domains.
What happened on May 9?
By May 9, the confrontation had become increasingly complex.
India reported large-scale drone activity, artillery exchanges along the Line of Control and attempted attacks on military installations.
According to the Indian government's briefing, an armed UAV attempted to target the Bathinda military station and was neutralised.
India also said it launched armed drones against four Pakistani air-defence sites, with one drone destroying an air-defence radar.
Both countries made numerous claims during the confrontation about interceptions, aircraft, military infrastructure and battlefield damage.
Not all such claims have been independently verified, and assessments of losses remain contested.
For that reason, accounts of Operation Sindoor need to distinguish carefully between official Indian claims, official Pakistani claims and independently verified evidence.
May 10: the confrontation reaches its critical phase
The final phase came on May 10.
India's subsequent official account says it struck a series of Pakistani military installations after the confrontation escalated.
Later that day, the Pakistani Director General of Military Operations contacted his Indian counterpart.
The two sides agreed that all firing and military action on land, in the air and at sea would stop from 5 PM IST on May 10, 2025, according to India's official account.
The roughly 88-hour period of intense military confrontation was effectively brought to an end.
India subsequently stated that its field commanders remained authorised to respond to violations.
What weapons and technologies came into focus?
Operation Sindoor was notable not simply because of the scale of the confrontation but because of the technologies involved.
India has subsequently highlighted the role of systems including:
Akash air-defence missile system Designed to intercept aerial threats.
Akash Teer An automated air-defence control and reporting system.
BrahMosA supersonic cruise missile jointly developed by India and Russia.
Counter-UAS systems Designed to detect and neutralise unmanned aerial systems.
Electronic warfare capabilities Increasingly important for detecting, disrupting and countering drone activity.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh specifically cited Akash Teer, Akash and BrahMos while discussing the operation in July 2026.
What did Operation Sindoor reveal about modern warfare?
Perhaps the most important lesson from Operation Sindoor was that a modern military confrontation no longer occurs in a single domain.
Aircraft remained important.
So did missiles and artillery.
But drones, electronic warfare, integrated air defence, intelligence networks and real-time command systems became equally significant.
The confrontation demonstrated how quickly a limited strike can expand into a technologically complex military exchange.
It also highlighted another reality: controlling escalation can become as important as initiating military action.
Both India and Pakistan possess nuclear weapons.
Any sustained conventional confrontation therefore carries risks extending far beyond the immediate battlefield.
Did Operation Sindoor change India's military doctrine?
It is too early to describe Operation Sindoor as a formally codified new doctrine.
However, statements from India's political and military leadership indicate that New Delhi views the operation as part of an evolving approach to cross-border terrorism.
In April 2026, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said Operation Sindoor represented a shift away from relying solely on diplomatic statements following terror attacks and demonstrated India's willingness to take decisive action.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, marking the operation's first anniversary in May 2026, highlighted what he described as the precision, preparedness and coordinated strength of India's armed forces.
That suggests Operation Sindoor is likely to remain an important reference point in discussions about India's deterrence strategy.
What remains disputed about Operation Sindoor?
A year after the confrontation, significant questions remain contested.
India and Pakistan offered sharply different accounts of battlefield losses, aircraft, infrastructure damage and the effectiveness of their respective military responses.
Some information remains classified.
Other information comes primarily from official military or government sources.
Open-source intelligence and satellite imagery have helped clarify parts of the confrontation, but they have not resolved every disputed claim.
A credible historical assessment therefore requires caution.
Operation Sindoor should not be reduced either to official victory narratives or to unverified claims circulating on social media.
The distinction between confirmed evidence, official statements and disputed claims remains essential.
Why Operation Sindoor still matters in 2026
Operation Sindoor is no longer only a breaking-news event.
It is increasingly becoming a case study in India's national-security policy, counter-terror strategy and emerging approach to multi-domain warfare.
In May 2026, the Indian Air Force marked its first anniversary with an 88-hour commemorative run, explicitly linking the duration of the event to the 88 hours of air operations conducted the previous year.
The operation has since continued to feature in speeches by India's political and defence leadership.
Its longer-term significance, however, will depend on what happens next.
Whether Operation Sindoor ultimately proves to have strengthened deterrence, altered Pakistan's calculations or established a lasting new threshold for India's response to terrorism will require years, rather than months - to assess.
What is already clear is that the events between May 7 and May 10, 2025 marked one of the most serious India-Pakistan military confrontations of recent years and demonstrated how rapidly a limited counter-terror operation can evolve into a much broader military crisis.
Updated+ Editorial Note
Operation Sindoor remains a politically and militarily sensitive subject. India and Pakistan have disputed several aspects of the May 2025 confrontation, including battlefield losses and damage assessments. Updated+ attributes military claims where appropriate and distinguishes official accounts from independently established facts.
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