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From a Sukhoi pilot braving technical warnings on the first night of Operation Sindoor to a senior officer letting a 27-year-old fighter pilot feel the “kick of the trigger press” of a BrahMos missile, a book released on Monday provides gripping first-hand accounts of the IAF’s deep strikes inside Pakistan since the 1971 war.
Written by senior journalist-author Vishnu Som, “The Sky Warriors: Operation Sindoor Unveiled” brings to light never-before-told accounts of Indian Air Force (IAF) officers engaged in the high-stakes aerial battles during the four days of clashes.
In response to the horrific Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 innocent civilians, India launched a series of precision missile strikes on nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir in the early hours of May 7, eliminating at least 100 terrorists.
The book’s detailed account takes readers inside the cockpit, telling the little-known stories of how IAF pilots battled not just the enemy but also the technical glitches and split-second dilemmas that defined some of the battle’s most dangerous hours.
One such moment came shortly after midnight on May 7, when Group Captain Kunal Kalra flew his Sukhoi-30 MKI toward a high-value target in Pakistan, navigating towering cumulonimbus clouds heavy with lightning, turbulence, and rain.”There was a lot of clouding, and we didn’t have a chance to deviate because that would have given our flight path details to the adversary. So we continued with what we had and penetrated some amount of weather,” Kalra recalled in the book.
The formation was maintaining complete radio silence as Indian fighters manoeuvred into launch positions across the border.
Then came the first complication. A red master caution light suddenly flashed in Kalra’s cockpit, and an automated warning voice indicated an electrical system fault in the aircraft.
Under normal circumstances, such a warning would have required the pilot to abort the mission and return to base — but Kalra chose to press on.
“Knowing that the aircraft is capable of launching the weapon, I made a decision to launch despite the challenges I faced,” he said.
The threat environment was intense. Pakistani radars were active, and enemy missiles could arrive with little warning.
“If a missile is fired in your direction, all you can see are the dots which glow in the night and rapidly grow very fast in size. They come right at you before you can even think of reacting,” Kalra said. Despite the malfunction and poor weather, he reached his designated launch point. The word ‘launch’ flashed on the head-up display in his cockpit.
Kalra pressed the trigger.
“When the missile goes, it is orangish. The sky is lit up. It was a night, but it was not dark anymore. And you know that this missile is going to do some damage, and the nation’s hope is being carried on it,” he recalled.
But even after firing the first weapon, Kalra’s challenges were far from over.
His aircraft soon developed another issue — this time with the weapons system that controlled his second missile.
“My entire formation had fired, and I was left, since I had been dealing with some issues. If the enemy were to obtain a lock-on to my aircraft, a missile would definitely be launched,” he said.
With the clock ticking and the risk of enemy radar locking onto his Sukhoi increasing, Kalra made a calculated decision to reset the system.
“If I were able to launch in five minutes, I would launch. If this cutoff was not met, then of course I would have to return to fly another day,” he said.
The gamble worked. The system reset successfully, and Kalra managed to fire the second missile before turning his aircraft away from hostile airspace, according to the book.
Days later, during the final phase of Operation Sindoor, when the IAF was targeting key bases of Pakistani military aviation, another Sukhoi-30 MKI crew found themselves approaching their own launch moment.
Group Captain Manav Bhatia was leading one of the squadrons flying alongside Rafale jets. His aircraft was armed with the supersonic BrahMos missile.
In the front cockpit sat one of the youngest pilots in the squadron — a 27-year-old fighter pilot who had rehearsed the mission several times during briefings.
The aircraft flew in darkness and strict radio silence while Pakistani radar systems searched the skies.
“It was dark. Every light that you saw from the west made you wonder, ‘Is that a surface-to-air missile launch?’ We were talking between the front and rear cockpits — ‘What is that?’ ‘No, it’s nothing, it’s a star’,” Bhatia recalled.
Bhatia, a veteran with two decades of service, had decided earlier that the young pilot would fire the missile when the time came.
“I had had 20 years of service. Now I wanted to give the young man sitting along with me the kick of the trigger press,” he said.
As the Sukhoi reached its launch position, Pakistani radar systems were attempting to track the aircraft across the border.
Finally, Bhatia gave the command.
“I gave the call: ‘You are cleared for firing.’ He said, ‘Ready to launch.’ I said, ‘Okay, launch.’ And he said, ‘Pressing trigger…’,” Bhatia recounted.
Moments later, the BrahMos missile blasted away from the aircraft.
“I prayed in my heart, Bas, bulls eye maar de yaar, please let the launch and hit be perfect. And then — gayi! She’s gone! On the intercom, I said, ‘Very nice’,” Bhatia said, his memories of the missile launch still vivid months later.
“The Sky Warriors”, published by Juggernaut, is available for purchase across online and offline stores.
