Five Key Revelations from Army's Deputy Chief on Operation Sindoor

The Wire

2 days ago

New Delhi: The statements made by Lieutenant General Rahul R. Singh, deputy chief of army staff (capability development and sustenance), at the FICCI 'New Age Military Technologies' event on Friday (July 4) make it clear that Operation Sindoor was not just a bilateral India-Pakistan conflict, but a complex multi-actor engagement involving sophisticated intelligence sharing, real-time battlefield support and coordinated military assistance.
Here are the five most significant revelations made by Lieutenant General Singh about Operation Sindoor:
'One border, three adversaries'
Lieutenant General Singh revealed that during Operation Sindoor, India faced not just Pakistan, but effectively three adversaries on one border.
'Pakistan was the front face. We had China providing all possible support … Turkey also played a very important role in providing the type of support that was there,' he stated.
This exposed the collusive nature of threat faced by India, where it faces multiple state actors working in concert, even if as a proxy conflict. This fundamentally changes India's strategic calculus and defence planning, as it confirms the two-front collusive threat is not a theoretical construct for the Indian military but an operational reality.
Pakistan had full real-time intelligence visibility into India
The most shocking revelation made by Lieutenant General Singh was that Pakistan had full visibility into Indian military deployments, which was made evident during the director general of military operations (DGMO)-level talks.
'When the DGMO-level talks were going on, Pakistan actually was mentioning that 'we know that your such and such important vector is primed and ready for action. I would request you to perhaps pull it back'. So he was getting live inputs … from China,' he disclosed.
This represents a huge vulnerability and demonstrates China's direct involvement in providing strategic military intelligence against India, fundamentally altering the nature of the conflict.
Indigenous equipment performance issues
Lieutenant General Singh acknowledged that while some indigenous systems performed well during Operation Sindoor, others revealed critical gaps. He also highlighted supply chain vulnerabilities, noting that equipment scheduled for delivery by January or October-November was not available during the operation.
Providing a specific example on the requirement of drones and his meeting with Indian drone manufacturers, he said he had asked these manufacturers in April how many of them would be able to 'provide the equipment that you're supposed to in the stipulated time'.
'A lot of hands went up. But when again I called them after one week, nothing came by. The reason is because our supply chains–we are still dependent on a lot of things from outside,' the officer continued.
He added that 'had all [that] equipment been made available, the story may have been a little different, right'.
This issue adversely affects India's defence preparedness and highlights the urgent need for robust indigenous defence manufacturing with reliable supply chains.
Pakistan as China's 'live laboratory' for testing weapons
The lieutenant general revealed that 81% of Pakistan's military hardware acquired in the last five years is from China. He described the situation as China using Pakistan as a 'live lab' to test its weapons against various other weapon systems.
'China perhaps has seen that he's able to test his weapons against, say, various other weapons systems that are there. It's like a live lab which is available to them,' he stated.
This indicates that any conflict with Pakistan is also a test ground for Chinese military technology, which allows them to improve and upgrade their product for the next conflict. These upgrades will be available to Pakistan, which will be better prepared for the future.
Turkey's direct military support to Pakistan with drones
He also disclosed that Turkey provided substantial support to Pakistan, including Bayraktar drones and trained personnel.
'Turkey also played a very important role in providing the type of support that was there. Bayraktar, of course, he's been giving from before. We saw numerous other drones also coming in, landing in the face of war, during the war, along with trained sort of individuals who were there,' he revealed.
This brings out Turkey's active role in supporting Pakistan against India, indicating a broader geopolitical alignment that extends beyond traditional Pakistan-China cooperation.
Lieutenant General Singh's revelations are the first public official acknowledgement of China's real-time support to Pakistan and of Turkey's direct involvement in Operation Sindoor. He candidly revealed Pakistan's unprecedented visibility into Indian deployments and acknowledged critical shortcomings in indigenous equipment and supply chains.
These revelations collectively underscore the immediate strategic challenges for India's defence posture. The multi-front threat reality and intelligence compromise are the most critical concerns requiring immediate attention and strategic response.