Operation Sindoor: India Deploys SCALP Missiles, HAMMER Bombs, and Kamikaze Drones in Precision Strikes on Pakistani Terror Camps

In a determined and expansive counter-terrorism operation, India initiated Operation Sindoor in the wee hours of Wednesday against vital terror infrastructure across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (Pok). It is India's biggest cross-border operation since the Balakot airstrikes of 2019.

The Indian tri-services of Navy, Air Force, and Army carried out the coordinated assault and is a direct response to the April 22 terror attack at Pahalgam in the Jammu and Kashmir state in which 26 civilians, among them an Indian Navy serving officer and a Nepali citizen, lost their lives.

The Pahalgam attack was attributed to Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), whose sibling outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) has been accused for years of receiving state support from the intelligence services of Pakistan. India's Defence Ministry clarified that Operation Sindoor was designed to attack only established terror installations and did not aim at Pakistani military installations.

Sophisticated Weaponry Used

India used cutting-edge precision weapons in this operation:

SCALP (Storm Shadow) Cruise Missiles: Air-launched missiles with deep-strike capability, capable of travelling over 250 kilometres.

HAMMER Bombs: Smart munitions destroy hardened targets like bunkers and multi-story buildings. They are standoff weapons with a maximum range of 70 kilometres.

Loitering Munitions: They are also known as kamikaze drones, utilised for surveillance missions and precision strikes. They remain in a pre-assigned position and attack after detecting high-value targets either remotely or autonomously.

Key Targets and Outcomes

Nine terror sites were targeted, four in mainland Pakistan and five in PoK. These were detected by Indian intelligence as functioning camps of banned organizations like LeT, JeM, and Hizbul Mujahideen (HM):

• Markaz Subhan Allah (Bahawalpur): Ideological and operational JeM headquarters.
• Markaz Taiba (Muridke): Safe 200-acre LeT indoctrination and logistics compound.
• Markaz Abbas (Kotli): Arms depot and suicide bomber training facility.
• Syedna Bilal & Shawai Nalla camps (Muzaffarabad): Sleeper cell and infiltration training camps.
• Markaz Ahle Hadith (Barnala): LeT support and logistics hub.
• Sarjal & Tehra Kalan (PoK): Infiltration staging ground.
• Mehmoona Joya (Sialkot): An HM training base still active despite declining presence.

Operation Sindoor represents a strong and technologically sophisticated assertion of India's counter-terrorism policy, thereby reaffirming its commitment to neutralizing the threat posed by across-the-border forces.