On 22 April 2025, the brutal terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir, carried out by two Pakistani and one Indian national, once again tested India’s patience. It was not just an attack on innocent tourists—it was an assault on India’s sovereignty and a grim reminder of the unfinished task of fighting cross-border terrorism.

India’s immediate diplomatic response—downgrading relations, closing borders, and putting the Indus Water Treaty in abeyance—was swift but familiar. Yet public sentiment demands more. After the surgical strikes of 2016 and the Balakot airstrikes of 2019, Indians now expect a response that goes beyond conventional retaliation. A response that not only punishes but fundamentally reshapes the rules of engagement. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed that India will answer with ‘strength and resolve’. This time, however, the nature of the response may look dramatically different: India is poised to fight a remote war.

Remote warfare—countering threats from a distance using drones, autonomous systems, and cyber capabilities—has been the invisible revolution in India’s military doctrine. Born out of hard lessons from the Kargil conflict in 1999, the Doklam standoff with China in 2017, and the Galwan clashes in 2020, India realised that the brutality of high-altitude, close-quarters combat must give way to technological superiority. Now, instead of sending soldiers into the line of fire, India can send swarms of drones, precision-guided missiles, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to strike with clinical precision.

This shift is not just strategic; it is psychological. In confronting Pakistan, India will switch from deterrence by denial — merely blocking attacks—to deterrence by punishment: inflicting unacceptable costs on the Pakistani establishment while staying a step removed from direct confrontation.

Pakistan’s military, emboldened by Chinese and Turkish drone technology, has increasingly relied on UAVs and proxy forces to destabilise Kashmir. But India has quietly built a layered remote warfare capability designed to neutralise this threat across land, air, sea, and cyberspace.

On the ground, India’s strategy will focus on locating and destroying Pakistan’s critical military assets without crossing the Line of Control in large formations. Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) drones like the Heron Mark-II, Rustom series and kamikaze drones will be deployed to strike Pakistani missile sites, airfields, and radar stations. Sheshnaag-150 and swarm drones will saturate and overwhelm Pakistani air defences, paving the way for highly selective and targeted incursions if necessary. Real-time surveillance will allow Indian forces to anticipate and counter Pakistan’s responses with lethal precision.

In the air, India’s Rafale, Tejas, and Su-30MKI fighters—coordinating seamlessly with autonomous drone squadrons—will dominate the skies. Pakistani jammers and surface-to-air missiles will be neutralised using loitering munitions and decoy drones. Unlike previous wars, Indian fighter jets may not even need to risk deep penetration; armed drones will do much of the heavy lifting.

At sea, India’s naval dominance is even more pronounced. Nuclear submarines and advanced destroyers stand ready to blockade Karachi Port and sever Pakistan’s access to vital sea lanes. P-8I Poseidon aircraft and MQ-9B Sea Guardian drones will provide constant surveillance, ensuring that Pakistan cannot open a second front in the Arabian Sea.

While Pakistan has acquired advanced drones like the CH-4, TB2 Bayraktar, and Wing Loong, it still faces an insurmountable challenge: scale. India’s domestic drone manufacturing ecosystem, bolstered by Defence Research and Development Organisation initiatives and policy reforms like the Drone Rules 2022, ensures that it can rapidly replace losses and expand operations at will.

Yet, there is a deeper dimension to this strategy. Remote warfare enables India to impose costs without getting bogged down in a conventional ground war, avoiding unnecessary casualties while keeping international opinion on its side. It exploits Pakistan’s vulnerabilities without offering them a clear escalation ladder.

Critically, it also neutralises Pakistan’s advantage of terrain. The mountains of Kashmir, which once gave cover to infiltrators and armoured columns, now provide no hiding place against the watchful eyes of high-endurance drones and satellites. Even if Pakistan were to activate sleeper cells or attempt sabotage through proxies, India’s expanded use of unmanned surveillance across urban and border regions would tighten the noose.

This is why Pakistan’s military planners are genuinely baffled today. India’s response remains unpredictable, flexible, and impactful. For every drone Pakistan shoots down, India can deploy five more. For every attempt at retaliation, India can open a new front—from cyberattacks to maritime disruption.

The Pahalgam attack has therefore triggered more than just a diplomatic standoff. It has accelerated a fundamental shift in India’s national security posture. No longer constrained by the old playbook of tit-for-tat retaliation, India now possesses the means to escalate asymmetrically and decisively.

India’s message, both to Pakistan and to the world, is clear: the age of remote warfare has arrived, and India is poised to test its remote warfare strategy with Pakistan.