Nearly 4 months after Op Sindoor, reconstruction underway at Pakistan's Nur Khan airbase

Two of Pakistan’s most important planes touched down in Tianjin earlier this week for the SCO summit — one carrying Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the other Field Marshal Asim Munir, who was only recently promoted. Sharif’s Gulfstream G450 flew out of Lahore, while Munir took off from the Nur Khan base in Rawalpindi. Ironically, just a few metres from the runway Munir used, workers were busy rebuilding an area hit during India’s Operation Sindoor strike.

Nearly four months after India's offensive, latest satellite pictures from Maxar Technologies, accessed by India Today, show fresh walls and groundwork at the same spot — clear signs of reconstruction.

This is no ordinary airbase. The Nur Khan facility is home to the Pakistan Air Force’s No. 12 VIP Squadron, famously called the Burraqs. It is the unit that ferries the country’s most powerful people — from the Prime Minister and President to service chiefs and cabinet ministers.

Before that strike, satellite images had revealed “specialised military trucks” parked at the site. These trucks, later destroyed in the attack, may have been part of a command and control system linking air and ground operations, says geo-intelligence researcher Damien Symon from Intel Lab.

“India’s strike in May 2025 targeted specialised military trucks at a complex in the airbase and caused secondary damage to neighbouring structures. These structures were later taken down likely due to structural issues and internal damage,” Symon explained.

He added that the current layout of the new wall sections seems to match the layout of the buildings that were damaged in May this year. He added: “The rebuilding effort also highlights Pakistan’s intention to restore operational capacity at this site, which is likely integral to airfield operations.”

The new images also show a VVIP jet, looking like a Bombardier Global 6000, and a military transport aircraft parked right next to the reconstruction zone. 

Munir has been flying the Global 6000 for his foreign trips while his usual Gulfstream was in the UK for three months of maintenance. That jet has since returned, and yet another Gulfstream, J755, is thought to be stationed at Nur Khan too.

Prime Minister Sharif himself once acknowledged the strike. Recalling the moment, he said: “I got a call at 2:30 on a secure phone from Army Chief General Syed Asim Munir, who informed me that India just now launched ballistic missiles and one of them fell at the Nur Khan Airport.”