7th May air combat timeline by @Global Defence Agency
00:20am At 12:10pm Indian Air Force initiated the first wave of combat takeoffs of Rafale, Su-30 MKI, Mig-29, and Mirage 2000 starting with aircraft groups from the northern and central attack axes. This marked the official launch of the large-scale air campaign codenamed “Operation Sindhoor”.
00:12am At 12:12pm Pakistan Air Force (PAF) detected unusual activity by the Indian Air Force and initiated combat readiness. This reflects the high efficiency of Pakistan’s early warning system as it detected the threat within just 2 minutes of the Indian aircraft taking off.
00:23am At 12:23pm fighter jets of Pakistan Airforce mainly JF-17 Thunder and J-10CE began taking off one by one. The time from detection to actual response was less then 11 minutes.
00:30am At 12:30pm Indian airforce completed the takeoff of all its strike groups. At this point approximately 72 Indian fighter jets including 14 Rafale fighter jets were airborne to participate in the operation and divided into four attack formations.
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00:37am At 12:37 All 42 combat aircraft of Pakistan Air Force were airborne and formed a defensive formation with AEW&C (Airborne Early Warning and Control) aircraft providing aerial intelligence support from the rear. At this point two sides were locked in a standoff near the border with a force ratio of 42 (PAF) to 72 (IAF).
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00:40am Without crossing the border the IAF began launching long-range air-to-surface missiles at predetermined civillian targets inside Pakistan located just outside the defense zone.
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00:45am At 12:45pm PAF successfully locked all Indian aircraft that launched air-to-ground munitions using electromagnetic signatures. The Air Chief of PAF Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmad Babar Sidhu at forward command issued a key directive, upgrading the rules of engagement from “deterrent standoff” to “engage and shoot down hostile aircraft.”
00:50am –
01:10am J-10CE & Jf-17 Thunder fighter jets of Pakistan Airforce began launching PL-15E long-range air-to-air missiles at the marked Indian jets.
According to intercepted communications from the Indian “Godzilla” formation (Rafale squadron),
Godzilla -3 was shot down.
Godzilla -4 reported a mid-air explosion.
01:15am At the peak of the engagement Pakistan shot down a total of 5 Indian fighter jets and a MALE UAV within approximately 25 minutes. At the same time PAF maintained disciplined and selective strikes targeting only those Indian aircraft that had launched air-to-ground weapons.
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01:30am – 02:00am After losing 5+1 aircraft Indian Air Force retreated from the combat zone and fighter jets of Pakistan Air Force also started returning to base. The entire aerial battle lasted around 2 hours the initial takeoffs to landing of the last aircraft.
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