The two-day Global Strategic Threat and Response (GSTAR) 2022 on ‘Evolving Global Order: Challenges and opportunities’ was organised by the Centre for Aerospace & Security Studies from 19-20 October 2022 in Islamabad, Pakistan. Dr Arif Alvi, President Islamic Republic of Pakistan inaugurated the international conference. He congratulated CASS for organising the second edition of GSTAR and commended the Pakistan Air Force for always being at the cutting edge and producing heroes in the history of Pakistan. The Welcome Address was delivered by Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmad Babar Sidhu, NI (M), Pakistan Air Force. On this occasion, the Air Chief announced the formal inauguration of the flagship National Aerospace Science and Technology Park (NASTP). The initiative is aimed at establishing technology parks and Aviation Design and Innovation Center (ADIC) in four major cities of Pakistan (Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi & Kamra) to give impetus to the process of indigenisation and technology drive as well as promote industry-academia linkages for innovation-led economic growth of the country. The Concluding Session was presided by Air Marshal Muhammad Zahid Mahmood, HI(M), Vice Chief of the Air Staff, Pakistan Air Force. Air Marshal Farhat Hussain Khan, HI(M), SBt, President, Centre for Aerospace & Security Studies, Islamabad, Pakistan, delivered the Vote of Thanks. 16 papers were presented at this year’s GSTAR by leading international and national scholars representing seven different countries including Canada, China, Germany, Latvia, Pakistan, United Kingdom, and United States of America. GSTAR 2022 was attended by nearly 500 delegates each day. More than 110 print and electronic media covered the full two-day event.
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The Cover-up: IAF Narrative of the May 2025 Air Battle
Even after one year since the India-Pakistan May war of 2025, the Indian discourse regarding Operation Sindoor remains uncertain under its pretence of restraint. The Pahalgam attack on 22 April, which killed 26 people, triggered an escalatory spiral. New Delhi quickly accused Pakistan-linked elements, while Islamabad refuted the allegation and demanded an independent investigation. On 7 May, India launched attacks deep inside Pakistan under what it later termed as Operation Sindoor. The political motive was intended to turn the crisis into coercive signalling by shifting the blame onto the enemy and projecting a sense of military superiority.
This episode, however, began to fray immediately as war seldom follows the intended script. Within minutes PAF shot down 7 IAF aircraft including 4 Rafales. On 8 May, Reuters reported that at least two Indian aircraft were shot down by a Pakistani J-10C, while the local government sources reported other aircraft crashes in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir
Why the IAF’s Post-Sindoor Spending Surge is a Sign of Panic
After Operation Sindoor, India is spending billions of dollars on new weapons. This is being taken by many people as an indication of military prowess. It is not. This rush to procure weapons is in fact an acknowledgement that the Air Force in India had failed to do what it was meant to do. The costly jets and missiles that India had purchased over the years failed to yield the promised results.
Sindoor was soon followed by India in sealing the gaps which the operation had exposed. It was reported that Indian Air Force (IAF) is looking to speed up its purchases of more than 7 billion USD. This will involve other Rafale fighter jets with India already ordering 26 more Rafales to the Navy in 2024 at an estimated cost of about 3.9 billion USD. India is also seeking long-range standoff missiles, Israeli loitering munitions and increased drone capabilities. Special financial powers of the Indian military were activated to issue emergency procurement orders. The magnitude and rate of these purchases speak volumes.
Indian media and defence analysts have over the years considered the Rafale as a game changer. When India purchased 36 Rafales aircrafts at an approximate cost of 8.7 billion USD, analysts vowed that the aircraft would provide India with air superiority over Pakistan. Operation Sindoor disproved all those allegations. Indian aircraft did not even fly in Pakistani airspace when the fighting started. India solely depended on standoff weapons that were launched at a safe distance. The air defence system of Pakistan, comprising of the HQ-9 surface-to-air missile system and its own fighters, stood its ground.
May 2025: Mosaic Warfare and the Myth of Centralised Air Power
Visualise a modern-day Air Force commander sitting in the operations room, miles away from the combat zone, overseeing every friendly and enemy aircraft and all assets involved in the campaign. In a split second, he can task a fighter, reposition a drone, and authorise a strike. In today’s promising technological era, he does not even need an operations room; a laptop on his desktop will suffice. The situation looks promising as it offers efficiency, precision, and control. The term used for such operational control is ‘centralisation’, which has been made possible with advanced networking, integrating space, cyber, surveillance, artificial intelligence, and seamless communication, enabling a single commander to manage an entire campaign from a single node. Centralised command and control, championed by the Western air forces and then adopted by many others, has thus been seen as a pinnacle of modern military power.
The concept of centralisation, enabled by state-of-the-art networking, may seem promising, but it is nothing more than a myth.
