Former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan has said a loitering munition deployed during Operation Sindoor may have struck the Kirana Hills area near Pakistan’s Sargodha, where nuclear-related facilities are located.

Speaking at the ‘VIMARSH’ event on Operation Sindoor and its aftermath at the Vivekananda International Foundation, Gen. Chauhan said India had sent several loitering missions around Sargodha before the strikes to search for radars.

During a media briefing during Operation Sindoor, former Director General of Air Operations, Air Marshal A.K. Bharti, had said on May 12 last year that the Indian armed forces did not target the nuclear facility at Kirana Hills in Pakistan.

Responding to a query during a press conference at the time, Air Marshal Bharti said, “Thank you for telling us that Kirana Hills houses some nuclear installation. We did not know about it. And we have not hit Kirana Hills, whatever is there.”

“Kirana Hills is about 10 kilometres north of Sargodha,” he said, explaining that the loitering missions had an endurance of around two hours. If they failed to locate a target within that period, they would eventually descend and strike somewhere.

“It must have come and hit one of those hills,” Gen. Chauhan said, referring to the possibility that one of the loitering munitions struck Kirana Hills. He also referred to images aired by Pakistani media showing smoke emerging from the area.

Gen. Chauhan said India’s operational success during Operation Sindoor was driven by better situational awareness and battlefield transparency, enabled by greater networking among the Army, Navy and Air Force.

“We were able to make better decisions,” he said, attributing the outcome also to “clear political direction” that gave the armed forces a free hand to plan operations.

On Pakistan’s use of satellite imagery, the former CDS said commercial satellite imagery from Chinese companies was available to anyone and suggested that Pakistan had attempted to use such imagery to assess the results of its strikes.

He also questioned the accuracy of Pakistan’s battlefield intelligence, particularly regarding maritime operations. Pakistani briefings reportedly claimed that an Indian carrier battle group was at certain locations in the Arabian Sea, but checks with the Western Naval Command showed it was actually 100 to 300 nautical miles away.

Gen. Chauhan attributed this to Pakistan’s dependence on foreign sources, noting that its long-range maritime aircraft did not fly during the period.

Describing India’s escalation strategy, he said one of the principles was that the “last strike or the winning note” would always be delivered by India.

On U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims of mediating the India-Pakistan ceasefire, Gen. Chauhan said the decision was reached directly between the two Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs).

“The ceasefire was decided between two DGMOs, and that’s it. I don’t see the role of anyone else,” he said.

He also questioned how information about the impending ceasefire reached the U.S. side before India could announce it, saying he was certain the information had not leaked from the Indian side.