Pakistan Deployed Spies to Find India's S-400 During Operation Sindoor

Air Marshal (retd) Jeetendra Mishra, who commanded the Indian Air Force's Western Air Command during the critical 'Operation Sindoor', has revealed that Pakistan employed an extensive network of 'spies' and 'sleeper cells' within India in a desperate attempt to locate India's advanced S-400 'Sudarshan' air defence missile systems. These extraordinary measures were taken during the May 2025 hostilities, which saw India launch Operation Sindoor as a retaliatory military strike against terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, following the devastating Pahalgam terror attack in April 2025 that claimed 26 lives. Mishra's revelations, made during an interview with ANI, highlight the pivotal role played by the Russian-made S-400 systems in altering the balance of power during the conflict. According to the Air Marshal, the S-400 emerged as the 'biggest threat' to Pakistan's air operations, significantly constraining their fighter jets from approaching within 200 km of the Indian border. He stated that Pakistan was 'desperate' to find the S-400s and 'employed all tricks in the book', including the deployment of human intelligence assets. The S-400's effectiveness was further underscored by its reported achievement of the longest surface-to-air kill in military history, downing a Pakistani Airborne Early Warning and Control (AWACS) aircraft at an astounding range of 314 kilometers. This particular incident, which involved Mishra granting permission to an S-400 operator to engage the target, demonstrated the system's formidable long-range detection and interception capabilities. The Air Marshal also suggested that Pakistan might have received 'satellite help from other nations' in its efforts to pinpoint the S-400 locations, though he refrained from naming any specific country. India signed a $5.43 billion agreement with Russia in 2018 for five S-400 systems. As of the time of the reported events in May 2025, India had already received and inducted three S-400 squadrons into the Indian Air Force, with a fourth squadron delivered in June 2026. These systems are crucial components of India's air defence network, capable of engaging multiple aerial threats simultaneously, including aircraft, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles, at various ranges and altitudes. The Indian Air Force had strategically deployed these systems along its western front, facing both Pakistan and China. Mishra's statements also shed light on Pakistan's targeting strategy during Operation Sindoor. He mentioned that the Adampur Air Force Station came under particularly heavy attack because Pakistan erroneously believed it was associated with the deployment of India's S-400 systems. Earlier in the conflict, the Indian Air Force had reportedly disrupted Pakistan's ground-based radar network and command-and-control centres, effectively 'blinding' them. This forced Pakistan to rely more heavily on airborne radar platforms like AWACS, making their detection and interception by the S-400 even more critical. The comprehensive nature of Air Marshal Mishra's revelations, which have been corroborated by multiple credible Indian news outlets including India Today, NDTV, The Times of India, WION, Business Today, and Indiablooms, underscores the high-stakes nature of Operation Sindoor and the significant impact of India's S-400 air defence capabilities on regional security dynamics. The news category is accurately identified as Defence, National Security, and India-Pakistan Relations, affecting multiple countries, primarily India and Pakistan, but also Russia (as the supplier) and potentially other unnamed nations. The claims appear well-grounded in the statements of a relevant official and cross-media reporting.

Frequently Asked Questions

Read Full Story on Quick Digest