The May 2025 conflict was a brutal validation of a new reality in South Asian warfare. While the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) demonstrated tactical prowess in air-to-air engagements on the conflict’s opening night, the subsequent days revealed a key vulnerability.
India’s large-scale, coordinated use of supersonic-cruising BrahMos cruise missiles to strike targets deep within Pakistan, bypassing frontline defences to hit main operating bases, was not merely a tactical success; it represented a strategic shock. It proved that a determined adversary could hold Pakistan’s core military infrastructure at risk with conventional, standoff weapons, threatening Islamabad’s air power before it could even get airborne.
This reality has rendered Pakistan’s previous air defence posture insufficient. The challenge, however, is not simply about acquiring a new surface-to-air missile (SAM) system that can shoot down a supersonic missile. The actual threat is one of mass and saturation. Therefore, the solution must also be one of mass.
The central question for Pakistani strategic planners is no longer just “What missile should be bought?” but rather, “How can the nation acquire the sovereign industrial capability to field a dense, scalable, and technologically superior air defence shield?”
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