Even before the fog of war began to lift, stocks in Chengdu Aircraft Company were beginning to soar.
Almost 30 years after first taking a picture of the sky, the active dragon of the J-10, the first fighter of the Chinese plane maker, finally survived after seeing the battle.
By 4am on May 7th, the Chinese diplomats in Islamabad were in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Hearing the outcome of the first showdown between modern Chinese fighters, the advanced western hardware deployed by India was deployed, filled with missiles and radars that had not been tested in combat.
While evidence remains crucial, it is possible that a Pakistani pilot of the latest variation of the active dragon shot down a French-made Rafalejet in India jumped over 40% in just two days.
“There’s no ads better than the actual combat situation,” said Yun Sang, a Chinese military affairs expert at the Stimson Center in Washington, DC. “This was a pleasant surprise for China. …The results are very impressive.”
While India and Pakistan may be caught up in the deepest skirmishes of decades, the conflict is also a test site for equipment essential to the different rivalry between China and the US-led Western Alliance.
Approximately 81% of Pakistan’s military equipment comes from China, according to estimates by the Stockholm Institute of Peace and International Strategic Studies.
This reflects “all weather friendship” that has been trying to try Pakistan and India since the 1960s. The materials that Pakistan provide have evolved alongside China’s own defense industry, said Andrew Small, an expert on Pakistan-China relations at the German Marshall Foundation.
“With the exception of nuclear and ballistic missile cooperation, much of what China provided was once low-field — tanks, artillery, small weapons,” Small said. But now, Pakistan is “becoming a showcase for some of China’s new capabilities.”
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Meanwhile, India has emerged as the world’s largest arms importer, as its wealth and regional ambitions have grown.
Over the past decade, it has moved to the US, France and Israel from its dependence on Russian suppliers for almost half of its recent purchases, including sophisticated fighter jets, transport aircraft, combat and surveillance drones.
“This is the most important global aspect here. This is the first time that Chinese military equipment has been tested against the best Western equipment,” said Sushant Singh, lecturer in South Asian Studies at Yale University.
India currently relies on nearly half of its purchases in the US, France and Israel, including FighterJet © Samuel Rajkumar/Reuters
“Every time this ends, the balance sheet tells us what will happen in Taiwan and what direction Western defense companies should take to combat the low-cost and high-tech capabilities that the Chinese have shown.”
When a country goes to war, their allies watch and learn. After Ukraine repelled almost 50-mile rows of Russian armor (tanks, armored vehicles, etc.) using modern shoulder-burning British and American missiles, Indian diplomats in Kiev were closely monitoring it.
“Is it true what they say about Russian tanks? They’re clumsy and easily rock-popped,” he said, returning to the FT journalist from the frontline, referring to how missiles blow the top off the tank.
Taiwan lobbyed to raise its own order delivery when it saw how effective a US-made horsepower medium-range precision missile system was at hitting Russian targets behind the frontline. By next year, it will own a system installed on around 30 trucks. This is more than Ukraine.
Even short skirmishes like India and Pakistan have fought regularly, but serve a unique purpose. Enemies test each other, implement existing red lines and show off their unique ability to set up new lines.
They generate a huge amount of operational data that will shape the next skirmish – or win the next war. Allies will analyze its data and weapons makers and fine-tune their own weapons systems.
When the country goes to war, their allies learn by watching ©Akhtar Soomro/Reuters
Defensive attacks from Chinese western rivals were waiting “irritated” in New Delhi. India has shared the J-10c radar and digital signature in combat mode, allowing them to train their own aerial defense.
Similarly, in China, the skirmish was not just an aircraft, but a sophisticated radar system called a sophisticated radar system (active electronic scan array), mounted on the front of the plane. The battle tested its capabilities that not only oust threats but also helped guide missiles.
Pakistan’s Deputy Director of Air Operations, Aurangzeb Ahmed, said the PL-15 variant was one of the missiles used in skirmishes this week. Ahmed boasted that his hour of engagement was “studied in the classroom.” “We knocked these guys some kind of feeling.”
Robert Torast, a researcher at the Royal United Services Institute in London, said the use of the PL-15E missile could be “very important.” Indian media reported that the intact PL-15 had recovered and provided an opportunity to study its secrets.
“If confirmed, we have now seen demonstrations of China-made AESA with missiles that exceed the visual distance used in combat,” he said.
Western countries and Russia have been fighting tests for versions of AESA for decades. Details of this single skirmish, including the number of missiles fired to succeed at the target, “may be extremely useful to Chinese people in assessing the capabilities of this weapon,” Tollest said.
In China, Skirmish is a test of not only aircraft but also sophisticated radar systems ©Zou Wei/VCG/Reuters Connect
Neither China’s Foreign Ministry nor the Great Wang Aircraft responded to requests for comment.
On the other side of the ledger, the success of Indian missiles – many of which are reportedly long-range French scalp missiles, but by finding targets, they have shown weakness and shortage of Pakistan’s air defense.
Pakistan is the generation behind the sophistication of the Russian S-400 and is known for deploying the Chinese HQ-9 system, which is at the top end of Indian stock.
“In fact, even at times of very high vigilance, Indian missiles have penetrated Pakistan’s airspace without detection,” said Raxman Kumar Behera, a specialist in India’s national security at Jawaharlallenur University in New Delhi.
According to the Indian military, India’s retaliation on Thursday targeted Pakistan’s “air defense radars and systems in many parts of Pakistan.”
“This is a very accurate representation of very high-end capabilities, taking away defenses rather than actual targets,” said a senior Western diplomat based in Delhi. “It’s a carefully adjusted warning. Look, if we can come to get the lock through your door, we can always come to the house.”
Kashmiri woman in her home was damaged after cross-border bombardment from Pakistan ©Farooq Khan/epa-fe/shutterstock
India and Pakistan gathered important details about their rivals’ strengths from past conflicts and identified their weaknesses.
After India successfully seized Himalayan territory from a Pakistan invasion in 1999, internal investigations showed that Mig’s aging Russian fleet had trouble piloting its mountain paths and avoided missiles mounted on shoulders while finding snow targets.
Three aircraft were shot down for three days before India switched to the French Mirage. It was the beginning of the first deployment of precision and laser guided missiles by the Indian Air Force and the transition from Russia to western aircraft.
Similarly, after India responded to the murder of 40 security guards in 2019 by a Pakistan-based extremist group involving air strikes in Pakistan’s Barakot region, it not only lost its MIG 21 aircraft, but its forces accidentally shot down a helicopter in a friendly fire incident, killing seven people.
“The Pakistani military officers have looked after me very well. They are thorough gentlemen,” the captured pilot said in a propaganda video before his release. “And the tea is amazing.”
The two incidents highlighted the lack of sufficient airborne early warning and control systems in India. Fly at high altitudes carrying sophisticated radars and sensors that can detect enemy aircraft, missiles and drones at range.
However, due to Indian bureaucratic challenges, learning from each skirmish is difficult, inefficient, and inefficient compared to the simple procurement system of one major supplier, China and the military that controls the country.
Only in March this year, India issued a “acceptance of necessity” notice to 18 to the fleet of such early warning aircraft of the Indian Triple Indian Fleet. Their development is several years away.
“If these speed aviation retaliation continues for a long time, India will feel their absence awfully bad,” said the New Delhi-based Second West defense.
“If India turns out to have lost a French jet to a Chinese missile fired more than 100 km away, the need is clearly urgent.”
