New high-resolution satellite imagery, sourced from Vantor and dated 16 December, reveals extensive reconstruction activity at a critical command and control building at Pakistan's Murid Airbase. This facility, struck by the Indian Air Force during Operation Sindoor on 10 May, now stands fully shrouded beneath a giant red tarpaulin.

The covering conceals what appears to be major repair work adjacent to a large complex housing Pakistan's unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operations.

Damage from the precision strike is assessed to have inflicted partial roof collapse, widespread structural compromise, and probable severe internal devastation. Initial post-strike images from June depicted only a smaller green tarpaulin over damaged sections, suggesting preliminary assessments were ongoing.

The current full enclosure with heavy-duty red tarpaulin and construction mesh indicates accelerated rebuilding efforts to mask debris clearance and sensitive repairs from overhead reconnaissance.

Satellite imagery experts, including Damien Symon, note that such tarpaulins are standard military practice for concealing reconstruction at struck sites. Symon observes that the initial partial covering in June likely accompanied structural evaluations, while the present scale implies greater internal damage than initially apparent. This building, vital to PAF operations, underscores the strike's strategic impact.

PAF Base Murid, situated in Punjab's Chakwal District, functions primarily as a hub for UAVs and unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs). It supports platforms such as the Shahpar series, Burraq, Bayraktar-TB2 and Akinci, and Wing Loong-II. The Indian Air Force targeted it amid escalating drone incursions by Pakistan, detected at over 26 locations the previous day.

The strikes occurred in the early hours of 10 May, just before Pakistan's Director General of Military Operations, Major General Kashif Abdullah, proposed a ceasefire to his Indian counterpart, Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai.

This marked the peak of the 88-hour conflict's military escalation, with the IAF responding to Pakistani assaults on its Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS) nodes, airbases, and S-400 units. Those attacks caused limited harm to facilities in Udhampur, Pathankot, Adampur, and Bhuj.

Imagery of the primary strike on Murid displays distinct roof cave-ins, pointing to munitions with roof-penetrating capabilities. Although the IAF has not disclosed specifics, evidence suggests precision-guided missiles equipped with delayed-fuse penetrators. These weapons exploit kinetic energy and hardened casings to breach concrete or metal roofs before detonating internally, maximising disruption to equipment and personnel.

A secondary strike that day produced a three-metre-wide crater merely 30 metres from an underground PAF facility. Expert analysis identifies earth-protected entrances as indicative of hardened storage for specialised gear or an operational shelter designed to withstand intense bombardment. Such features highlight Murid's role in protected UAV-related assets.

Sequence imagery—from pre-strike intact structures, through immediate post-strike devastation, to current reconstruction—confirms the strike's efficacy and Pakistan's subsequent response. The tarpaulin's deployment aligns with broader patterns of repair across PAF bases hit during Operation Sindoor.

Pakistan has initiated comprehensive reconstruction at multiple sites. Runways at Mushaf Airbase in Sargodha and Rahim Yar Khan in southern Punjab, cratered to disable fighter operations, have been fully restored. These repairs enable resumed combat aircraft activity, mitigating earlier disruptions.

Hangars at Jacobabad, Bholari, and Sukkur suffered destruction in IAF strikes. Intelligence assesses that several PAF F-16s were eliminated on the tarmac at Jacobabad, while a vital Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft was lost in Bholari's hangar strike. In Sukkur, a UAV-housing hangar has been razed and levelled.

Further developments include new constructions at Nur Khan Airbase in Chaklala near Islamabad, replacing a complex obliterated by IAF action. These efforts reflect Pakistan's determined push to rehabilitate its air infrastructure post-conflict, though the tarpaulin at Murid signals ongoing concealment of deeper vulnerabilities.

The imagery underscores Operation Sindoor's precision and the IAF's ability to degrade key PAF enablers, particularly in UAV command and drone warfare domains. As reconstruction proceeds, it also reveals Pakistan's prioritisation of airbase recovery amid strategic recalibrations. Continued monitoring via satellite will be essential to gauge long-term operational resilience.

Based On NDTV Report