The news of Indian Air Force (IAF) missiles striking Pakistan Air Force (PAF) base Nur Khan with pinpoint accuracy during Operation Sindoor took me back to the morning of December 4, 1971. Serving with an IAF squadron, I had led a section of two fighter-bombers to strike the same target then known as PAF Base Chaklala. Located just a few miles northeast of the Pak army headquarters in Rawalpindi, it was a heavily defended base, but my wingman and I returned home safely, after attacking some transport aircraft on the ground.

Separated by 54 years, Operation Sindoor, launched by India on May 7, 2025, in response to a terror attack in Pahalgam, and the 1971 India-Pakistan War are completely distinct events with vastly dissimilar contexts, objectives, and scales. However, a brief comparison of operations may be informative for the lay reader to grasp how radically the nature of warfare has changed over the half century separating these two conflicts.

The proximate cause for outbreak of hostilities in 1971 was the pre-emptive strike by over 100 Pakistan Air Force (PAF) fighters on 12 Indian Air Force (IAF) bases in north India at dusk on December 3, 1971. This was followed by an extensive night offensive by PAF bombers. By midnight, India declared war. The IAF mounted a powerful counter-air response, and this provides the first major difference between then and now.

Most of the participating aircraft in 1971 were sub-sonic, second-generation fighters and bombers. The pilot’s primary sensor was his eyeball, and since GPS had not yet arrived, navigation was by compass and clock. Armed with bombs, rockets and cannon (all of them “dumb” or un-guided), the........

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