Dominating the Skies: Strategic Use of Air Medium in Modern Conflicts

A high-level seminar titled “Dominating the Skies: Strategic Use of Air Medium in Modern Conflicts” was organised by the Centre for Aerospace & Security Studies (CASS), Lahore, in August 2025. The event brought together senior practitioners, academics, and analysts to discuss the transformation of modern air power, the lessons from recent conflicts, and implications for Pakistan’s strategic posture.

 

In her opening remarks, Ms Nidaa Shahid, Associate Director, CASS Lahore, outlined the evolution of air power as a decisive element in deterrence, escalation management, and compellence. She noted that recent conflicts have highlighted the growing dominance of BVR engagements, integrated air–missile defence, and multi-domain constructs. She emphasised that air power is no longer just about mastery of the skies but about commanding the full spectrum across cyber, space, and information domains.

 

Delivering the keynote address, Air Marshal Asim Suleiman (Retd), President CASS Lahore, provided an in-depth case study of PAF’s operational conduct during Zarb-e-Karrar in May 2025. He explained that the character of air power was undergoing a profound transformation, no longer defined by individual platforms but by the integrated use of combat aircraft, drones, and precision-guided missiles. This “Triangle of Air Power,” he emphasised, represented a decisive shift from legacy doctrines to a model of distributed, persistent, and cost-effective dominance across the air and electromagnetic domains.

 

He contextualised this model through lessons from recent conflicts. Ukraine, despite lacking a conventional air force, demonstrated how drones could serve as an asymmetric equaliser, denying Russia uncontested air dominance. Iran, through long-range missile salvos against Israel, revealed how precision strikes could impose psychological and strategic costs even on technologically superior adversaries. Yet, he observed, in both cases the absence of full mastery of the triangle limited strategic outcomes. By contrast, Pakistan’s execution of integrated MDOs during Zarb-e-Karrar showcased how conventional aircraft, drones, and missiles, when synchronised with EW, cyber operations, and space assets, deliver decisive effects.

 

Air Marshal Asim Suleiman (Retd) noted that India launched its offensive on the night of 6–7 May and as the attacker, it enjoyed the advantage of choosing the time, place, and strength of its assault. The challenge for the PAF was acute as the engagement window was extremely short, leaving only five to seven minutes to execute its response. Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Babar Sidhu played a pivotal role in choreographing each move through a centralised command system.

 

Once India had launched its missiles, an unequivocal act of war, the PAF delivered a swift and meticulously coordinated multi-domain counterattack.

 

Air Marshal Asim Suleiman (Retd) highlighted how the PAF transformed India’s initial offensive advantage into a textbook example of air superiority. Leveraging real-time C4ISR, cyber disruption, electronic jamming, and coordinated kinetic strikes, the PAF downed seven Indian aircraft, including four Rafales, without crossing borders, in what he termed was the largest BVR battle in modern history. Subsequent phases of the conflict saw Pakistan repel drone swarms, neutralise BrahMos strikes, and launch precision counterattacks, which destroyed key Indian air defence and logistical nodes. These outcomes, he argued, marked a watershed moment in South Asian air combat history and validated the doctrinal reset initiated in 2021 under the leadership of Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Babar Sidhu.

 

He further highlighted that PAF’s transformation was institutional as much as operational. The creation of dedicated Cyber, EW, Space, Ground-Based Air Defence, and UAV Commands enabled the air force to orchestrate multi-domain effects as a unified machine. Supported by indigenous innovation through the National Aerospace Science and Technology Park (NASTP), financial ingenuity, and rigorous training regimes, PAF had built a layered architecture that allowed it to outpace and outmanoeuvre its adversary.

 

Air Marshal Asim Suleiman (Retd) stressed that the era of platform-centric air power was over and that the future belonged to system-centric, multi-domain integration. He credited the success of Zarb-e-Karrar to the vision and leadership of Air Chief Marshal Sidhu, whose reforms had restored Pakistan’s first-look, first-shoot capability and prepared the PAF for next-generation conflict. President CASS concluded by reflecting on India’s failure: while it sought to create a new normal during the war, it instead revealed only a new abnormal, lacking substance, clarity, and the ability to deliver results. For Pakistan the central lesson was clear: sustained investment in doctrine, training, indigenous innovation, and multi-domain integration would remain central to deterrence and strategic dominance in an increasingly complex regional environment.

 

Dr Rabia Akhtar, Dean of Social Sciences at the University of Lahore, argued that missiles have become the grammar of modern warfare, shaping tempo, escalation risks, and deterrence calculations. She emphasised the risks of conventional–nuclear entanglement, particularly in South Asia, and highlighted Pakistan’s establishment of the Army Rocket Force Command (ARFC) as a positive step towards raising the nuclear threshold by consolidating conventional missile forces. She stressed that Pakistan’s policy priorities should include doctrinal clarity, survivability, air and missile defence resilience, and disciplined strategic signalling.

 

Air Cdre Khalid Banuri (Retd), Senior Advisor Project Phoenix, AHQ, reflected on “Multi-Domain Airpower: Lessons for Tomorrow’s War.” He highlighted how modern warfare fuses conventional and non-conventional tools, with information, psychological, and cognitive operations increasingly shaping outcomes. He underlined the shift from traditional dogfights to BVR engagements, the growing centrality of drones and counter-drone measures, and the decisive role of integrated MDOs encompassing kinetic and non-kinetic domains. He cautioned that future conflicts will be fought in an environment where perception, cyber operations, and EW will be as decisive as firepower.

 

In his concluding remarks, Air Marshal Asim Suleiman (Retd), President CASS Lahore, reiterated that modern air power is system-centric and fundamentally multi-domain. He stressed that Pakistan’s victory in May 2025 was not merely tactical but strategic, achieved through doctrinal innovation, indigenous capability development, and effective leadership. He argued that Pakistan must continue investing in doctrine, training, and innovation to sustain its competitive edge.

 

The interactive discussion session covered themes including nuclear thresholds in the face of India’s evolving missile capabilities, sustainability of MDO in prolonged conflicts, the role of narratives and information warfare, civil defence preparedness, and supply chain resilience. Panellists highlighted the dangers of India’s misplaced confidence and emphasised the urgent need for proactive narrative-building and the whole-of-nation approach needed to sustain future MDOs.

 

The seminar concluded with a strong message: air power in the 21st century is no longer about individual platforms but about integrated systems operating across domains. For Pakistan, success will depend on sustaining doctrinal clarity, building indigenous capability, enhancing public communication, and embedding air power within a broader national security strategy.