'Clear-cut Indian victory... IAF hit entrances of Pak N-weapons site'

Austrian aerial warfare analyst and military historian Tom Cooper tells Times Now’s Navika Kumar in an interview on the impact on Pak of India’s Op Sindoor that the videos are evidence that India has struck and destroyed the entrances to nuclear sites in Pakistan. Excerpts:

We've been following you here in India, and you virtually declared that India had a clear-cut victory in the skies. Could you elaborate... why you think India had an advantage, and where did Pakistan fail?

It's relatively simple in military terms ... Pakistan attempted to hit back at India with UAVs, with artillery missiles, even with ballistic missiles... this effort failed because Indian air defences shot down the mass of incoming weaponry. On the other hand we have seen early on May 10 the IAF striking not only PAF bases but also the entrance, both entrances, to the Pakistan nuclear weapons storage site at Mushaf air base... And the fact is, in the way the military understands warfare, when you start targeting enemy nuclear weapon storage sites, it means you are absolutely sure the enemy cannot hit back... And from this point of view, it's a clear-cut victory for India.

India has so far given no confirmation on striking any nuclear storage sites. In fact, at a press conference by the defence forces, they even jokingly said they didn't know where these existed.

There is a video clearly showing hits on entrances, on both entrances of the nuclear storage site, which means it has been geo-confirmed... of course, Pakistanis, a few I have spoken to, they have said, 'No.' But I have a strong feeling ... that India is not shooting missiles wildly around the place where their (Pakistani) nuclear weapons are stored. So, the overall conclusion is that New Delhi does not want to further escalate. And once you keep in mind, Indian generals in particular ... they are stolidly conservative ... they wouldn't let anybody randomly shoot missiles in that direction. This is a clear message. We can hit you where it hurts. The conclusion is unavoidable. Pakistan cannot protect its own nuclear weapon storage sites, cannot even protect its air bases. Therefore, India is in a position of clear advantage...

Do you believe the radioactivity reports that have surfaced today?

I haven't studied them closely yet... But the point is this: whatever the radioactivity explains, the fact is that the nuclear storage site has been hit, not directly the storage site, but the entrance into the underground complex. It means that most likely the entrance and exit to this storage site have been cut off ... If the Pakistanis cannot enter the storage site, if they cannot reach their nuclear weapons ... it's game over.