SRINAGAR: In a high-stakes overnight confrontation, India’s military successfully neutralised a wave of Pakistani drone and missile strikes using its Russian-origin S-400 air defence system, reports appearing in media said. In quick retaliation on Thursday morning, Israeli-made HARPY drones were sent to disable radar systems deep inside Pakistan, including a key air defence installation in Lahore.
Top sources in the security establishment were quoted by a major news gathering agency that the Indian Air Force (IAF) deployed the S-400 ‘Sudarshan Chakra’ system late last night to intercept multiple fast-moving airborne threats that originated across the border. These included a barrage of missiles and drones aimed at critical Indian military infrastructure across the northern and western sectors, including Jammu, Srinagar, Awantipore, Pathankot, Amritsar, Ludhiana, and Bhuj.
“The S-400 tracked and engaged moving targets approaching Indian airspace, successfully neutralising them before they could cause damage,” the sources said, adding that debris is now being collected from multiple locations to establish the trajectory and origin of the intercepted threats.
Following the successful defence, India launched a focused counter-strike at dawn using its HARPY unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which are specifically designed to seek and destroy enemy radar systems. The Harpy, a loitering munition developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), autonomously homes in on radio-frequency emissions from ground-based radars and obliterates them using a high-explosive warhead.
“The HARPY operates in suppression-of-enemy-air-defence (SEAD) missions, and it was deployed with surgical precision to disable Pakistani air defence radars,” a source said. “It has been reliably confirmed that the radar system in Lahore was neutralised in this morning’s mission.”
The Harpy drones, capable of flying for up to nine hours in contested airspace, reportedly flew deep into Pakistani territory, hunting for radiation-emitting military installations. Once locked on, they descended from varied profiles to strike with lethal accuracy.
The overnight operation, during which there was pin drop silence in skies, is being seen as Operation Sindoor 2.0.
India’s Integrated Counter-Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Grid, along with advanced air defence networks, intercepted the incoming munitions before they could reach their intended targets.
Even as Indian officials maintained their response was “measured and proportionate,” they stressed that any further attacks on Indian military assets would be met with a “suitable response in the same domain and intensity.”
