Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

Airbases in the crosshairs of warring nations—Is India ready?

India’s air defence architecture proved its mettle in Operation Sindoor. But more can be done to fully integrate all three services and civil aviation radars.

Airbase attacks have become commonplace in both major and minor, as well as symmetric and asymmetric, conflicts across the world. Though not a novel phenomenon, such attacks are a direct result of the decisive advantage air power holds, compelling warring actors to strike each other’s airfields and associated infrastructure.

“It is easier and more effective to destroy the enemy’s aerial power by destroying his nests and eggs on the ground than to hunt his flying birds in the air,” Italian Army General Giulio Douhet acutely observed in 1921.

The development of modern sophisticated weaponry—from missiles to the proliferation of unmanned aerial systems and loitering munitions to precision strike capabilities—has further facilitated such attacks.

Although attacking an airfield does not necessarily translate into air denial, which is the ability to prevent an adversary from operating in the air domain, it can impede an air force’s capacity to conduct both offensive and defensive operations. This is especially so if the attack is on a forward airbase. Such attacks can deny a force from achieving air parity, and consequently, from establishing air superiority.

A study by RAND Corporation identified four broad objectives behind airbase attacks: capture airfield, deny defender use of airfield, harass defenders, and destroy aircraft and equipment. Not every airbase attack strives for all of these goals; it typically depends on the level of threat perception linked to the airfields and accordingly, the degree of damage the attacker wants to wreak.

What recent conflicts lay bare

Three months into 2026, the world has already witnessed umpteen airfield attacks. On 3 January 2026, the United States launched ‘Operation........

© ThePrint