Operation Sindoor: India’s Rafale vs Pakistan’s F-16 — Which fighter jet is more deadly?
- India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, 2025, conducting early morning airstrikes on nine terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir targeting Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed strongholds.
- The strikes followed a terrorist attack in Pahalgam linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba and intended to disrupt militant infrastructure amid long-standing India-Pakistan tensions.
- India targeted sites including Muridke, the Lashkar-e-Taiba 81-hectare headquarters near Lahore, and Bahawalpur, a Jaish-e-Mohammed stronghold, where multiple explosions and evacuations occurred before dawn.
- India announced it targeted nine locations believed to be centers from which attacks on India were planned and coordinated, while Pakistan reported shooting down five Indian fighter jets and stated that 26 civilians were killed in the strikes.
- The strikes heightened border tensions, prompting Pakistan to close its airspace for 48 hours and disrupted flights across northern India, reflecting enduring volatility in the region.
53 Articles
53 Articles
Military operation in Pakistan reveals weaknesses of India's air force
New Delhi has begun to acknowledge the loss of several fighter jets during 'Operation Sindoor.' Military experts suggest that at least one Rafale may be among the destroyed aircraft. This would mark the first loss in combat for the French aircraft.
Operation Sindoor is India’s third warning in 9 years. But will Pakistan learn?
India launched its most forceful strike yet in response to terror from Pakistan. But as with past operations, a question lingers: actions that satisfy domestic sentiment but don’t shift ground realities risk trapping India in a cycle of escalating commitments – without altering the adversary’s strategy.
India may have lost its most advanced fighter in strikes against Pakistan
While it is unclear exactly how many of the 36 Rafale airframes IAF operates were part of Operation Sindoor or were lost during or after it, unverified images on social media show a mostly intact tail fin segment bearing the markings of the IAF.


India targets Pakistan in Operation Sindoor: What we know so far
NEW DELHI, May 7 — India launched strikes on Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir today, an assault Pakistan has called a “blatant act of war” as tensions spiral between the nuclear-armed rivals after a deadly attack on tourists in Indian Kashmir. What is Operation Sindoor? India said its Operation Sindoor struck nine Pakistani sites today that provided “terrorist infrastructure” and where attacks against it were orchestrated. Sindoor means the red ve…
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