Overview

• Operation Sindoor underscored the effectiveness of the Integrated Air Command and Control System in unifying sensors and shooters to outpace adversary decision cycles.
• Precision-guided munitions such as BrahMos, SCALP and HAMMER have rendered traditional concepts of fronts and flanks obsolete by striking targets hundreds of kilometres away.
• Air Marshal Dixit called for extending India’s surveillance envelope to detect, identify and track threats deep within adversary staging areas before they approach national borders.
• He warned that hypersonic missiles and drone swarms have shortened the OODA loop from hours to seconds, turning real-time or near-real-time surveillance into a survival imperative.
• China’s military space programme now operates over 1,000 satellites, including more than 360 ISR platforms, prompting AI-assisted electro-optical sensor fusion on MALE and HALE drones in partnership with private industry.