"No Surprise Islamabad Sounded For Ceasefire": Expert On India-Pak Truce

India's retaliation to Pakistani aggression following Operation Sindoor was a "clear-cut victory", said Tom Cooper, an Austrian combat aviation analyst and author. This, he also suggested, was the reason that Pakistan initiated the move towards a ceasefire. The reason for the success of the Indian retaliation, he wrote, was better firepower of India, and its multi-layered air defence system. In a blog he posted on social media platform Facebook, Tom Cooper praised India's retaliation. 

"In this case: a clear-cut victory for India. No surprise Islamabad 'sounded' for a 'cease-fire'," wrote Mr Cooper, who is considered one of the most respected experts on air warfare. Click here for India Pakistan Ceasefire Live Updates

Dissecting the Indian retaliation, Mr Cooper said, on May 10, the Indian Air Force "re-appeared on the scene to launch a number of Brahmos and SCALP-EG missiles against selected bases of the Pakistan Air Force. 

"With at least two of PAF's HQ-9s knocked out two days earlier, and the PAF suppressed enough to stop shooting PL-15s into the Indian airspace, in a matter of three hours the IAF Su-30MKI-, Mirage 2000- and Rafale-crews found enough opportunities to deliver a few really heavy blows," he wrote. 

At Nurkhan AB, a direct hit set on fire a C-130 Hercules of the PAF. Sargodha's Mushaf AB received at least one hit that created a crater in the middle of the runway.

The worst-hit was Bholari AB in Sind, where a direct hit in its main hangar five officers of the PAk Air Force, injured more than 40, and damaged one of Saab 2000s. 

"After this series of blows, the writing was on the wall: pending the IAF exhausting its stocks of Brahmos and SCALP-EGs, Pakistan had nothing left to counter these," he wrote.