Operation Sindoor - Post Conflict Analysis

[S_Madhukar]

This propellant story sounds naughty… will that discourage Cheen from sharing tech with Bakis?

[drnayar]

So, is it accurate that the Chinese PL15 that India recovered intact provided a surprise, a much higher energy density solid rocket fuel which India has now incorporated into Astra? or is it truly a "what if" ?

"One panicked mistake by a pilot. One unexploded Chinese missile lying in the dirt. That’s all it took for the balance of power to shift overnight.

In this video, we explore a gripping "what if" scenario: What happens when India gets its hands on an intact PL-15E? The answer lies not in the electronics, but in the fuel. Discover the story of the "Red Dragon Fuel"—the high-density CL-20 chemistry that the Chinese thought was safe, until it landed in DRDO's lab.

From a secret snatch-and-grab operation at the border to the chemical labs of Hyderabad, witness how Indian scientists allegedly reverse-engineered the enemy's crown jewel. The result? The sudden, "impossible" range extension of the Astra Mk1 to 160km, the Mk2 to 240km, and the birth of a new monster: The Gandiv (340km)."

The Chinese stole propellant chemistry from Bayer which provides the propellant for meteor missile !

[uddu]

Those are mostly channels trying and saying anything for attention. Such channels are like Mushrooms. Credibility is something lacking in many of them. Other than positive psy ops in one aspect making China vary of delivering high end weaponry to Pakistan, there is nothing much in it.

The YouTube was brought to my attention; but only after finding such items in the press also, such as that quoted below, did I burden BRF with this item.

Back in October 2025, the Hindustan Times reported:

DRDO analyses Chinese PL-15 missile, Astra-II will co-opt its advanced tech
India recovered the PL-15 E air-to-air missile as it does not have self-destruct features.
Updated on: Oct 18, 2025 12:34 PM IST
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-ne ... 26571.html

While DRDO remains tight-lipped about its analysis report submitted to the defence ministry, the examination has identified several superior features in the Chinese weapon, one of the people cited above said. These include a miniature active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar with advanced propellant capable of maintaining speeds exceeding Mach 5, and sophisticated anti-jamming capabilities. All these advancements, particularly the radar technology, are being incorporated into India's indigenous Astra missile development programme.

Please know that today the media space is dominated by all about brining in Sensational breaking news for readers rather than reliable news. I don't know whether there was indeed a reliable news time as most of the times the newspapers and channels used to be fully controlled. Only the advent of social media gave us the option to look at many other sides and understand reality. Be it finally being debunked by DRDO themselves. So if someone posts a sensational news in a defense reporting channel or X, it gets picked up by everyone. Those who seek attention and breaking news will run with it, irrespective of finding out the reality. These are normal these days. We have to accept this reality.
What I said is just the tip of the Iceberg of Media control. There are so many vested interests who do have influence in Media through Journalists or Media houses working for them. There are lobbies at every end from U.S To Chinese to Russians even our own. So if someone in the U.S has to run a propaganda piece on Chinese with a Chinese Missile being captured, they can plant a story of Chinese missile captured and Indians unraveling the mystery. They gain by mocking the Chinese and trying to underrate the Indians. The Chinese will do the reverse mocking Americans and if they could attach Indians to that story even better. In the world of Pys ops, these things are daily and every moment fought through all kinds of media. We don't' fall prey to it and push our own narratives that benefit us. You can run a story that We took the missile and understood it's not of use to us and gave it to the Americans so that they can improve their missiles. We are very weak in Pysops because we consider it unethical to do such things. Others don't have any such issues.

[ashthor]

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-ne ... 26571.html

While DRDO remains tight-lipped about its analysis report submitted to the defence ministry, the examination has identified several superior features in the Chinese weapon, one of the people cited above said. These include a miniature active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar with advanced propellant capable of maintaining speeds exceeding Mach 5, and sophisticated anti-jamming capabilities. All these advancements, particularly the radar technology, are being incorporated into India's indigenous Astra missile development programme.

It was so advanced that the built in AI tech thought it is better to seek refuge in India rather than do china's and pak's bidding.

[SSridhar]

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-ne ... 26571.html

. . . All these advancements, particularly the radar technology, are being incorporated into India's indigenous Astra missile development programme.

Doesn't anybody wonder that we have to get such ideas from analyzing someone else's missile? These are evolutionary in nature and will always happen in newer versions, notwithstanding dud PL-15s.

[Manish_P]

Please know that today the media space is dominated by all about brining in Sensational breaking news for readers rather than reliable news.
..
So if someone posts a sensational news in a defense reporting channel or X, it gets picked up by everyone. Those who seek attention and breaking news will run with it, irrespective of finding out the reality. These are normal these days. We have to accept this reality.
..
So if someone in the U.S has to run a propaganda piece on Chinese with a Chinese Missile being captured, they can plant a story of Chinese missile captured and Indians unraveling the mystery. They gain by mocking the Chinese and trying to underrate the Indians
..
We don't' fall prey to it and push our own narratives that benefit us. You can run a story that We took the missile and understood it's not of use to us and gave it to the Americans so that they can improve their missiles.
..

+1

Very well put points

[uddu]

https://x.com/i/status/2017584259364741153
@shreedharsingh9
So SAAW was used in Operation Sindoor.

[A_Gupta]

^^^ Short version, @uddu ji is that neither you nor I know whether the DRDO-PL15 story has any legs or not. All we know is that the media is unreiiable - which we always knew. Trying to solve it by finding as many independent sources as is possible for the same information, but that too may be a waste of time.

[A_Gupta]

When in doubt, ask AI. Microsoft Copilot says this, and if anyone can comment on it meaningfully, I would appreciate it.

Subsystems India Could Realistically Benefit From

A. Seeker Hardware (AESA front‑end, antenna design, packaging)
Usefulness: HIGH

Even if the missile is damaged, India can still learn from:
* Antenna element geometry
* T/R module layout and cooling strategy
* Radome material composition and thickness profile
* EM shielding and packaging density

These insights help DRDO refine:
* Astra Mk‑3’s active seeker
* Future AESA seekers for long‑range missiles
* ECCM techniques (knowing how the PL‑15 sees the world helps you blind it)

[A_Gupta]

B. Datalink Hardware (mid‑course update receiver)
Usefulness: HIGH

Even if software is unreadable, hardware analysis reveals:

* Frequency bands used
* Antenna design
* Modulation constraints
* Power budget
* Susceptibility to jamming
This directly helps:
* IAF EW pods
* RWR libraries
* Astra’s own datalink robustness

This is one of the most valuable subsystems for countermeasures.

[A_Gupta]

C. Autopilot & Control Actuator Design
Usefulness: MEDIUM

India can examine:
* Actuator torque
* Fin geometry
* Servo motor type
* Thermal protection around actuators

This helps refine:
* High‑G maneuver envelopes
* Control surface durability
* Flutter suppression

But it won’t revolutionize Astra — India already has strong control‑law expertise.

[A_Gupta]

D. Fuzing & Safety Mechanisms
Usefulness: MEDIUM

India can learn:
* Proximity fuze sensor layout
* Safety‑arming logic (hardware only)
* Fragmentation pattern design

Useful for survivability and countermeasures, but not a game‑changer.

Copilot also gave a long list of not-useful things, which I won't reproduce here.

A. What India can learn from PL‑15 propellant residue
Even a damaged missile can reveal:

* Propellant type (likely a composite double‑base or HTPB‑based composite)
* Binder chemistry
* Oxidizer ratios
* Metal powder content (Al, Mg)
* Burn rate modifiers
* Grain geometry clues (from fragment patterns)

This helps DRDO understand:
* The energy density China is achieving
* The burn profile (fast‑burn vs sustained thrust)
* The thermal stability and insulation strategy

These insights are useful for benchmarking, especially for Astra Mk‑3 and future long‑range missiles.

B. What India cannot get from propellant analysis
* Exact grain geometry (critical for thrust shaping)
* Exact dual‑pulse timing logic
* Manufacturing tolerances
* Curing processes
* Micro‑scale additives

These are the real “secret sauce” and cannot be reconstructed from debris.

India can use the data to:
* Validate whether its own propellant R&D is competitive
* Adjust burn‑rate modifiers
* Improve insulation and thermal protection
* Optimize dual‑pulse motor design for Astra Mk‑3

[Rakesh]

Decoded: How Indian Air Force Established Air Superiority During Operation Sindoor

A new report by a Swiss research centre has brought the 2025 four-day mini-war between India and Pakistan back in limelight. The report especially focuses on the aerial battles that took place between the Indian and Pakistani air forces to analyse and conclude while the IAF suffered tactical setbacks initially, it was able to establish air superiority by the end of the conflict. On this episode of In Our Defence, host Dev Goswami and national security expert Sandeep Unnithan revisit Operation Sindoor and look back the aerial battles in new light. The two decode what the report has to say not just about the Sindoor air battles but also the dogfight that took place in the aftermath of the Balakot airstrike in 2019.

[uddu]

When in doubt, ask AI. Microsoft Copilot says this, and if anyone can comment on it meaningfully, I would appreciate it.

Subsystems India Could Realistically Benefit From

A. Seeker Hardware (AESA front‑end, antenna design, packaging)
Usefulness: HIGH

Even if the missile is damaged, India can still learn from:
* Antenna element geometry
* T/R module layout and cooling strategy
* Radome material composition and thickness profile
* EM shielding and packaging density

These insights help DRDO refine:
* Astra Mk‑3’s active seeker
* Future AESA seekers for long‑range missiles
* ECCM techniques (knowing how the PL‑15 sees the world helps you blind it)

Be careful about asking AI. AI reads news reports from BBC to Dawn to Reuters. There is 0 or absolute 0 reports of DRDO experiments or or so innovation out there in public. So what you get is a summary of all the propaganda bundled as fact.

Now regarding the above question, you are asking how India will benefit. It will be looking at records of how militaries benefit from captured hardware from cold war era published documents to till now and try to compare what were the kind of acquisitions copying from U.S hardware to Soviet and Soviet to U.S or even Both U.S USSR to China and puts out a similar statement of the practices that exist across the world. A.I is making assumption based on past trends and it's not knowing our own capabilities, skills, work going on except only knowing about Astra exists with extra ranges.
sky
The above statements all be studies but not to make our own missiles, but our missiles are superior to anything Chinese given to Pakistan or even French ones. The only comparable missile in Astra class today dimension wise is the Skysting from Israel which they are pushing for export to India. The range extension covers that as well. Also don't take the Chinese capability as published by PLAAF. Even if you take it for granted, the range of Astra 2 is in the range of PL-16, their latest innovation. I don't think Pakistanis handed it over to us. Hopefully soon. And our own range extension must have started, when there was knowhow of Chinese developing a longer range missile PL-16. Remember our main adversary today is China. So when they are developing new weapons, there will be counter weapons from our side as well.

So there is nothing in the world that suggest, we have relied on the Chinese, the more you examine, the more you feel the bogus nature of the story.

Will the PL-15 be examined? Absolutely, it will be and for a purpose to ensure that we develop the appropriate countermeasure and tactics to make PL-15 harmless for us.