Longstanding questions and speculations surrounding the military actions near Pakistan during Operation Sindoor have finally been addressed by former Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, who provided a clear account of the events involving the strategic Kirana Hills. He explicitly stated that the Indian forces did not execute a direct strike on the location itself, but rather that an Indian suicide drone likely impacted the area after exhausting its operational time.
Drones Deployed to Trace Radar Systems in Sargodha
Elaborating on the operation during an event held in Vivekananda, New Delhi, the former military chief detailed the deployment of multiple drones around the Pakistani region of Sargodha. The primary objective of these missions was to locate active radar networks in the area and neutralize them if necessary. Kirana Hills is situated roughly 10 kilometers north of Sargodha and is widely regarded as one of Pakistan's most critical and heavily guarded nuclear storage sites.
Mission Life Exhaustion Led to the Impact
Explaining the technical mechanics of the drones used, the former CDS noted that these systems typically possess an operational flight capacity of about two hours. During this window, the drones remain airborne while actively searching for designated targets. If no suitable target is encountered within that timeframe, the drone descends or lands upon the completion of its mission life. He suggested that a similar sequence of events likely unfolded at Kirana Hills when the device failed to find a valid engagement target.
Clarification Shared at a Public Event in Delhi
By shedding light on the operational dynamics of Operation Sindoor, the former top commander made it clear that the incident at the nuclear-associated facility was not the result of a targeted bombardment. Instead, it aligned with the standard behavior of autonomous aerial equipment running through its programmed flight cycle without encountering a designated hostile target, thereby resolving much of the ambiguity surrounding the historic event.
