Fresh high-resolution satellite imagery has revealed extensive reconstruction activity at Pakistan’s Murid Airbase, months after the Indian Air Force struck a key command-and-control building there during Operation Sindoor on May 10. The newly released visuals, dated December 16, show a giant red tarpaulin covering the damaged structure, indicating large-scale repair efforts underway.
Located next to a major UAV operations complex, the building had suffered severe structural damage in the strike, with sections of the roof collapsing and significant internal destruction suspected. Earlier images from June had shown only a small green tarpaulin covering one part of the structure, but the latest imagery suggests Pakistan has now enclosed the entire building under a much larger tarp—commonly used by militaries to conceal debris removal, sensitive damage, or reconstruction activities from satellite surveillance.
Experts say the pattern of destruction is consistent with the use of roof-penetrating precision weapons, possibly missiles equipped with delayed-fuse penetrator warheads. These weapons are designed to smash through reinforced surfaces before detonating inside, maximizing internal damage—an effect clearly visible in post-strike images from Murid.
Satellite imagery analyst Damien Symon noted that the expanded containment tarp indicates Pakistan may have found more extensive internal damage than initially assessed. “The full enclosure suggests large-scale reconstruction is now underway, and that the internal destruction may have been greater than previously believed,” he said.
PAF Base Murid, located in Punjab’s Chakwal district, is a critical hub for Pakistan’s unmanned aerial operations, hosting systems such as the Shahpar, Burraq, Bayraktar TB2/Akinci, and Wing Loong II. Its role made it a strategically important target during the brief but intense 88-hour conflict in May 2025.
The strike on Murid came just hours before Pakistan’s Director General of Military Operations, Major General Kashif Abdullah, reached out to his Indian counterpart Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai proposing a ceasefire. By then, the Indian Air Force had ramped up strikes on multiple Pakistani bases in what became one of the most significant escalations of the conflict.
The latest satellite evidence underscores how deeply the strike impacted Pakistan’s UAV infrastructure—and how extensive the ongoing recovery efforts are months later.
