'It Cannot Be Clearer Anymore’: Expert On India Hitting Pak Nuclear Facility During Op Sindoor

Last Updated:February 18, 2026, 07:29 IST

Tim Cooper described the alleged strike as one of the decisive moments of the conflict.

Aviation historian and analyst Tom Cooper has claimed that India struck Pakistan’s Kirana Hills nuclear facility during Operation Sindoor, mentioning that the evidence is unmistakable. In an interview with NDTV, Cooper said he had multiple pieces of proof to support his claim, despite official denials from the Indian Air Force.

Speaking to NDTV, Cooper said the timing and nature of the strike suggest it was intended as a strong strategic message. “It’s a place you hit when you want to send a clear message without causing, let’s put it this way, too much damage. It means, ‘Listen, guys in Pakistan, we can hit you severely where we want, whenever we want, with as much ammunition as we want. Stop it, finally’," he told NDTV.

Earlier during Operation Sindoor, Cooper, in a Facebook post, criticised India’s defence PR for not acknowledging an alleged strike near Kirana Hills. Criticising the IAF, he wrote: “India, India, India… and ‘IAF and its PR-work’… sigh… Air Marshal Nagesh Kapoor – Vice Air Chief, IAF – gave a press conference, a day or so ago. And, ‘of course’, somebody asked him about IAF air strikes on the underground elements of the Kirana Hills — one of major Pakistani ‘weapons storage facilities’ — well-known to have been flown during the 88-Hours War, on 10 May 2025… Kapoor answered in the classic IAF-fashion: ‘we don’t know about it… these videos were presented by their people… they made them… we did nothing’…"

Cooper further argued that the diplomatic activity that followed reinforced his assessment. Cooper said that when one considers the timing of the strike and cross-checks what was happening on the diplomatic front, including Islamabad reaching out to Washington and New Delhi and pushing for a ceasefire, the sequence of events becomes clear. While it was not literally a case of begging for a ceasefire, he maintained that the developments that followed spoke for themselves and that the situation “cannot be clearer anymore," he told NDTV.

Asked about the evidence behind his assertion, Cooper said there were several indicators, including videos allegedly showing missile contrails descending onto the hillside. He pointed to smoke rising from what he described as the radar station of the 4091st Squadron of the Pakistani Air Force.

“And the evidence is so clear that the Indian Air Force hit these radar stations first to disable the Pakistani capability to counter its attack, and then hit at least two entrances to the underground storage facilities. And Kirana Hills is one of the centrepieces of the Pakistani nuclear programme. They have run something like 20-24 non-critical nuclear tests over there. I mean, it’s not Disneyland," he told NDTV.

Cooper claimed that Pakistan’s retaliatory Operation Bunyan-un-Marsoos had failed, largely due to Indian air defence systems.

Cooper described the alleged strike as one of the decisive moments of the conflict and said it was among the key reasons he considers the episode a clear-cut victory for India.

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