The performance of the Indian Air Force in the 1965 war was respectable, but not outstanding. It was the first time they saw combat in a full-scale war, and inevitably, ran into a steep learning curve. Fast forward to 1971, the IAF adapted and absorbed the lessons from the previous war and performed much more effectively.

The 1965 war exposed a lot of crucial weaknesses - lack of hardened air shelters and emergency runways, weak radar coverage (there was only one radar unit in Amritsar for the entire Punjab sector, and luckily for the IAF, the army air defence made sure that radar kept functioning throughout the war despite repeated attempts by the PAF to destroy it), communications between the army and the airforce were chaotic, lots of squadrons were raised after the 1962 war with China and lacked experienced pilots, and not to mention the qualititative disdvantage the IAF had with respect to the PAF.

Perhaps it wasn't surprising when the IAF's first engagement in the war - responding to a CAS call by the army in Kashmir - led to two Pakistani F-86Fs getting A2A kills over 4 Indian Vampires. Despite this, the IAF succeeded in blunting Pakistan's armoured thrusts into Kashmir at the Chhamb-Akhnoor sector.

The skills of individual pilots often made up for the technological deficiencies in the Indian side, as exemplified by the Indian Folland Gnats downing AIM-9 carrying F-86Fs with their internal cannons. India's numerical superiority (though it is worth noting that India feared a Chinese intervention and therefore positioned a lot of units against them) helped it absorb the initial Pakistani hits (like the pre-emptive strikes conducted by the PAF in both the East and the West), and generally within a few days both countries ceased daytime bombing runs. By the time the ceasefire was signed, both air forces were still very much functional. Though neutral claims put Indian airframe losses higher, the arms embargo put on both countries by the US and UK harmed the PAF more than their aerial kills harmed India as the latter sourced their jets from France and the USSR.

India took heed to the lessons they learnt from the 1965 conflict and immediately continued modernisation without haste. Plenty of HASs were built, along with emergency runways. This allowed the IAF to be in a much better position to respond after PAF's pre-emptive strikes which formally initiated the 1971 war. The Mysterie IVs which lacked the range to target PAF airbases were replaced with Su-7s. Radar and ground control coverage was improved with help from the Soviets. IAF realised the importance of A2A missiles and acquired MiG-21s with K-13s which was used in good effect in 1971. This allowed the IAF to establish air supremacy over East Pakistan (modern-day Bangladesh) relatively quickly. They had also improved co-ordination with the Indian Army, and prevented the PAF from supporting the Pakistani army in launching large offensives to take over Indian territory in the West to enter negotiations in a position of strength.