The Indian Air Force is set to conduct large-scale military exercises in Rajasthan, along the international border with Pakistan. The drills were confirmed in a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) issued on Tuesday evening.
According to the notice, the war games will commence at 9 pm on Wednesday and continue until 3 am on Friday. During this period, flight operations — both arrivals and departures — at airports close to the India-Pakistan border will be suspended.
These military drills are being interpreted as a strong display of India’s defence capabilities amid rising tensions with Pakistan, following a terror attack in Pahalgam last month that left 26 people dead.
In parallel with the Air Force operations, civil defence drills are also being carried out across the country. These exercises are aimed at preparing civilians for effective responses in the event of hostile military action. Notably, such widespread civil defence preparations have not been seen since the 1971 war with Pakistan. These will be conducted in nearly 300 locations, including the national capital, Delhi.
A civil defence district is typically defined as an area that hosts an armed forces facility or critical infrastructure, such as a nuclear plant or oil refinery.
The war games come amid intense high-level consultations in Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi met National Security Advisor Ajit Doval earlier on Tuesday — their second meeting in two days — as deliberations continue on India’s possible military response to the Pahalgam terror attack.
Following the incident, the Prime Minister has held multiple strategy meetings with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, NSA Ajit Doval, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, and the chiefs of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. During one such meeting last week, PM Modi reportedly gave the military “complete freedom” to plan and execute a response.
Meanwhile, Pakistan on Monday announced that it had successfully test-fired a surface-to-surface missile named Fatah, which has a range of up to 120 kilometers. According to Pakistani media, the test was part of a larger military exercise called Exercise INDUS and was conducted to validate the missile's design and performance.
The choice of name for Pakistan’s military drill is widely viewed as a pointed signal, following Islamabad's strong reaction to India’s decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) and halt water supply to Pakistani agricultural regions — a move Pakistan denounced as “an act of war.” The Fatah test marked Pakistan's second missile launch in just 48 hours.
India has also been active in its weapons development programs. It recently test-fired an advanced indigenously developed underwater mine capable of detecting acoustic, magnetic, and pressure signatures from ships. Additionally, India conducted its own missile tests just five days after the Pahalgam attack.
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The Pahalgam massacre involved four terrorists affiliated with The Resistance
Front, a proxy group of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba. Twenty-six people, mostly civilians including a Nepali national, were killed in the assault. India claims to possess evidence of Pakistan's direct involvement in the attack.
As part of its immediate response, India cancelled all visas issued to Pakistani nationals and formally suspended the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, which allocates the waters of the Indus River and five major tributaries between the two countries. The three rivers assigned to Pakistan under the treaty supply water to nearly 80 percent of its farmland.
In retaliation, Pakistan suspended the 1972 Simla Agreement and cancelled Indian visas. Both nations have since shut down border crossings and closed their airspaces to each other.
In the aftermath of the attack, Prime Minister Modi vowed to bring those responsible to justice. Condemning the killings, he declared that the agenda of terrorism would never succeed, and assured the nation that those behind the attack — including the planners and their handlers — would be held accountable.
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