Author: Mustafa Bilal

The tale of how the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and the Indian Air Force (IAF) entered the era of Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air combat spanned decades before it came to its culmination on the night of 7 May 2025. For almost 50 years after partition, the PAF and IAF engaged each other in close-distance dogfights. Pilots would often recognize the tail markings on the fighter aircraft they were attempting to shoot down with their short-range guns and heat-seeking missiles. As such, all aerial engagements during the wars of 1965 and 1971 were conducted within visual range. The technological enablers for BVR engagements and corresponding doctrines did not develop in South Asia until the 2000s. In BVR air combat, the first one to see, lock on, and fire their missiles wins the engagement. Initially, the IAF had the ‘First Look, First Shot’ advantage. PAF’s fighter aircraft were capable but carried missiles with limited range, hindering effective long-range engagements

At the beginning of Operation Epic Fury, US Space and Cyber Commands launched a coordinated campaign against Iranian satellite communication and navigation systems. Three days later, General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, publicly admitted what analysts suspected; these commands had been the ‘first movers’. Although space has received less media coverage than the air campaign or the naval dimension, it has enabled multi-domain operations. Broadly, there are four major dimensions which have defined the role of space in this war. The first dimension is satellite intelligence, particularly the evolution of commercial Earth observation into what analysts call a "glass battlefield." Accessing satellite