2025 India-Pakistan war
India and Pakistan both are nuclear powers. 247 million people live in Pakistan, and 1.4 billion people live in India.
On April 22, 2025 terrorists associated with "The Resistance Front" (TRF) killed 26 people in the tourist resort of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir. A statement issued in the name of TRF, which is believed to be an offshoot of the Pakistani-based Lashkar-e-Taiba armed group, claimed responsibility for the attack. The TRF group formed after the Modi government scrapped the special status that granted special privileges to the people of the former state of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.
The attack triggered outrage and grief in India, along with calls for action against neighboring Pakistan, whom New Delhi accuses of funding and encouraging terrorism in Kashmir, a region both nations claim and have fought two wars over. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to hunt the terrorists to the "ends of the earth", and India's government is accused Pakistan's government of "funding and encouraging terrorism in Kashmir".
On April 23, 2025 India immediately suspended a water treaty governing the water flows of the Indus River and revoked the visas of Pakistani nationals within its borders and given 48 hours to leave the country. It also closed one of the only land border crossings between the two countries. Pakistan responded by closing off its airspace to Indian planes and issuing a barrage of reciprocal visa revocations.
The Indian government decided to stop the flow of Indus River water to Pakistan following the termination of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty. Millions of people in Pakistan are heavily dependent on water from the Indus River. On April 25, 2025 the Pakistani government warned that messing with the flow of water would be an "act of war". The threat came from Pakistan Prime Minister's Office as tensions flare between New Dehli and Islamabad. The same morning Indian forces and Pakistani forces "briefly exchanged fire". Small arms were used by both sides, but no casualties immediately reported. The gunfire violated a 2021 pledge by the two nations to observe a ceasefire along the disputed Line of Control between Indian and Pakistani controlled areas of Kashmir. Social media showed videos of military equipment being moved toward the border.
Defense advisors to the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi were declared persona non grata and given a week to leave India. India would be withdrew its advisors from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.
India has moved the aircraft carrier Vikrant into the Arabian Sea. Pakistan "issued a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen/Mariners) for the Arabian Sea and initiated a naval live fire exercise, while putting its military on full alert in anticipation of a possible military response by India in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack," The Print, an Indian news outlet, reported.
Air war
Three modern 'Rafale' fighter jets manufactured by the French aerospace corporation Dassault Aviation belonging to the Indian Air Force were known to have been shot down.[1] Prime Minister Narendra Modi faced domestic criticism for buying such expensive and useless weaponry. Indonesia cancelled its contract to purchase 42 units of the French built Rafale valued at $8.1 billion USD over concern of the plane's performance in combat.[2]
In early June 2025, India purchased the Russian 'RVV-SD' air-to-air missiles capable of hitting targets up to 110 km away. India has armed its MiG-29UPG and Su-30MKI fighter jets with these latest missiles. The Indian Air Dorce came to rely solely on Russian combat aircraft rather than NATO-French built aircraft. Simultaneously India Today TV, citing senior sources in the Indian Defense Ministry, said that New Delhi has already begun negotiations with Moscow on the purchase of another batch of Russian S-400 Triumph air defense systems. Indian generals were so impressed they called Prime Minister Modi to immediately purchase several more S-400 systems to strengthen the protection of India's northern and western borders. According to Indian authorities, military, and journalists, it was thanks to the S-400 that Pakistan failed to hit India's main military bases. It was further reported that it was thanks to the S-400 systems that India managed to shoot down 9 ballistic missiles and several enemy fighter jets, including one F-16 of the Pakistani Air Force.
India officially announced that the S-400 became the world's only air defense system that shot down an enemy aircraft at a record distance of 314 km (195 miles). The S-400 shot down a Swedish-made AWACS SAAB E-2000 ERIEYE belonging to the Pakistani Air Force. The Ministry of Defense of Pakistan confirmed the loss of such a vital and valuable aircraft. National Security Advisor of India, Ajit Doval, said that the S-400 destroyed the AWACS during an attack by Su-30MKI fighter jets on the Pakistani 'Bholari' Military Airbase. During this attack, Pakistan tried to save the AWACS by removing it from the base and heading deep into Pakistani territory to avoid being hit by missiles from Su-30MKI fighter jets. However, it was at this moment that the S-400 shot down AWACS deep in Pakistani territory at a distance of 314 km.
Indian Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh says India downed five Pakistani fighter jets, including F-16s and JF-17s. He also stated Pakistan lost 4-5 additional fighters, radars, and an AWACS aircraft, dismissing Pakistani claims of downing Indian jets as unfounded.[3]
