In order to get an advantage in future battles, militaries will attentively examine a dogfight between French-made Indian Rafale fighters and Chinese-made Pakistani jets.
At least two Indian military aircraft were shot down by a Chinese-made Pakistani fighter jet on Wednesday, according to two US officials who spoke to Reuters. This might be a significant milestone for Beijing’s cutting-edge fighter jet.
The aerial war offers militaries a unique chance to observe how pilots, fighter jets, and air-to-air missiles function during actual combat and utilize that information to better train their own air forces for conflict.
According to experts, the live use of modern weaponry will be examined globally, especially in China and the US, who are both getting ready for a possible battle over Taiwan or in the larger Indo-Pacific area.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a US official told Reuters that there was strong evidence that Pakistan had launched air-to-air missiles against Indian fighter jets using the Chinese-built J-10 aircraft.
The performance of China’s PL-15 air-to-air missile against the European company MBDA’s radar-guided air-to-air missile, the Meteor, was the main topic of social media posts. The usage of these weapons has not been officially confirmed.
According to Douglas Barrie, senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, “Air warfare communities in China, the US, and a number of European countries will be extremely interested to try and get as much ground truth as they can on tactics, techniques, procedures, what kit was used, what worked, and what didn’t.”
If it was being carried, Barrie remarked, “you have arguably China’s most capable weapon against the West’s most capable weapon; we don’t know that.” According to Barrie, the Americans and French would probably be looking to India for comparable intelligence.
“The PL-15 is a major issue. According to a defense industry executive, the US military gives it a lot of thought.
On a French public holiday, Dassault Aviation, the builder of the Rafale, declined to comment, and the MBDA consortium was not immediately available for comment.
Limited information
Important information, like whether the Meteor was transported and the kind and extent of the pilots’ training, was still unknown, according to Western experts and industry sources. According to researchers, arms companies would also be keen to distinguish between operational and technological performance.
Byron Callan, a managing partner of Capital Alpha Partners and a defense specialist headquartered in Washington, stated, “There will be audits of what works and what doesn’t work, but I think the other overlay is the proverbial fog of war.”
According to him, US arms corporations receive regular input on how their products are performing in the conflict in Ukraine.
Therefore, I fully anticipate that the same will apply to India’s European suppliers, and it’s likely that China and Pakistan are exchanging similar opinions. They want to know if the PL-15 is performing as promised or better than anticipated.
An internet image of a seeker seemed to show the part of a missile that had missed its target, according to a defense industry source from a Western nation that operates the Meteor.
Regarding whether Pakistan possesses the PLAAF’s domestic version of the PL-15, China’s air force, or the lower-range export variant that was made public in 2021, there are differing accounts.
According to Barrie, who has written a lot about the missile, Pakistan probably possesses the export version.
While acknowledging that the rocket-powered PL-15’s capacity “may be greater than was thought,” a Western industry source rejected reports that it had a longer range than the air-breathing Meteor. The range of the Meteor has not yet been formally released. ” It’s impossible to judge anything right now. “We don’t know much,” the industry insider stated.
Western nations have long been interested in the PL-15’s performance and range. Its appearance was interpreted as one of several indications that China has significantly moved away from its dependence on technology that was derived from the Soviet Union.
As part of a larger shift in Western priorities toward China, the United States is working with Lockheed Martin to develop the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile in response to the PL-15’s performance beyond optical range.
Although experts claim work has been sluggish, European countries are investigating a mid-life upgrade for Meteor, which may include propulsion and guidance, according to specialized publication Janes.
Boeing was given the contract by US President Donald Trump in March to construct the US Air Force’s most advanced fighter jet to date, which is expected to have stealth, cutting-edge sensors, and engines.
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