Beijing's equipment gains battlefield recognition as Pakistan air force shoots down rival at 100km

by Thomas Harding, security and policy editor covering Westminster politics and European affairs

https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/asia/2025/05/09/india-pakistan...

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At least one of the French-supplied advanced Rafale fighters was destroyed by a hypersonic PL-15 missile fired by the Pakistan Air Force from a distance of more than 100km on Wednesday, it has been reported.

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Another key point, also witnessed in the Russian-Ukraine war, is that electronic warfare is becoming vital to battlefield survival, with the Indian aircraft not apparently equipped with a key radar jammer unlike British and US jets.

China has invested heavily in what experts called “a gold standard” Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar capability, which allows it to miniaturise the system and put it inside a 200kg missile. By comparison Raytheon's Phantomstrike missile is miniaturised at 60kg.

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“We've now seen Chinese weapons in action and the big question mark over the Chinese military build-up has been is their stuff actually any good?” said Tim Ripley, editor of the Defence Eye website. “This suggests that it is.”

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Once fired the PL-15E is blasted by a rocket booster to hypersonic speed of Mach 5 (6,200kph) then guided onto target by the J-10C fighter’s radar before, in the closing stages, switching to its own Aesa radar.

It can then hone in with accuracy with a second burst of speed being injected about 10km from target making it extremely difficult to evade.


Radar jammers
However, if the Rafales had been fitted with Aesa, then this would likely have picked up the threat from some distance.

An Aesa radar would have potentially allowed the Rafale to jam the Pakistan fighter and the missile in its closing stages as it allows the jet to create of beam of focused electronic noise.

“It makes it really quick to neutralise a threat from one of these missiles,” said Mr Ripley.

However, even if equipped with Aesa it is questionable whether the Rafale could have dodged the missile, said a leading defence company aviation expert.

While the radar “would help” its defences, missiles such as the PL-15E are so potent that “once you've been locked on by one it's very difficult to get away from the kill zone because those missiles are so quick,” he added.

Furthermore, if the missile detects jamming then it has the ability to quickly jump to another frequency.


French blushes
What is certain is that the Rafale wreckage, found near the Indian city of Bathinda, will be “pored over by the French because they really will want to know what happened,” said Paul Beaver, a military aviation expert.

Further humiliation for the Indians, as well as the French, was that its air force operates a wing of 36 Rafale F3Rs, the warplane’s most advanced version.

The aviation company source called it a “big, big blow to the French” because Rafale had been “touted as a cheap alternative” to the RAF Typhoon and American fighters.

“While pilot training could be part of the problem if you don't have the best equipment, then you are at a disadvantage,” he added.

There is a suggestion that the shoot-downs could be attributed to pilot error although it also proves Pakistan’s aerial combat skills.

“This demonstrates that the Pakistan Air Force is as effective as everyone always thinks it is. It's smaller than India’s but makes up for it in training and motivation,” Mr Beaver said.

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Distant dogfights
The aerial battle also marks the start of a new era of aerial warfare in which the incident showed the “very interesting development in long range missile snipers,” said Mr Ripley.

“Long range air-to-air combat is now a big trend in aerial warfare,” he added. “On the back of this lots of the air forces will be busy trying to revamp their electronic warfare effectiveness trying to neutralise these missiles. It’s a big growth area.”

Ex Indian diplomat Bhadrakumar on recent India-Pakistan clashes:

https://www.newindianexpress.com/opinions/2025/May/13/operation-sin...

The bottom line is, Pakistan has demonstrated its nuclear deterrent capability. It is as simple as that. If Operation Sindoor were to be repeated every now and then, it would only have the same results and be halted unceremoniously within 100 hours. Eventually, it will not only lose all novelty to our ecstatic TV audience, but a troubled nation may eventually start blaming an inept leadership.

Pakistan is a major military power. Creating potholes in an odd runway or rendering a radar dysfunctional temporarily will not intimidate that country. Succinctly put, it must be far better for India to take help from Trump, who harbours no animus against us, to solve the problem and move on with life.

Trump’s talks with Hamas and Iran are going well, and he has pacified the Houthis. Even the irascible protagonists in the Ukraine war are currying favour with him. Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy are all set to meet on Thursday in Istanbul—a “neutral site”. Beijing is ecstatic that the trade talks in Geneva “will become a new example for China and the US to work hand in hand to inject more stability and positive energy into the world”.

This is the way of the world. We must stop fantasising over newer military doctrines every now and then. Pakistan is a keen observer and adept practitioner. As true as night follows day, Pakistan will soon have a workaround.

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Four days of clashes with Pakistan exposed the faultlines in India’s foreign policy and diplomacy. None of India’s neighbours voiced support for Operation Sindoor; it had a public spat with the European Union; Russia remained largely indifferent, and alongside the Global South, refused to take sides. And after allowing for US mediation, we are now in a sullen mood and denial.

President Donald Trump, in his characteristic way, reacted to our split personality by promising to work with us “to see if, after a ‘thousand years’ (of Hindu-Muslim animosity), a solution can be arrived at concerning Kashmir”. Trump’s India-Pakistan hyphenation apart, our diplomacy vis-a-vis the US is crumbling. Our ‘middle class’ cannot be happy about it. The paradox is, we are squirming when Trump pays flattering tribute to PM’s “wisdom, and fortitude to fully know and understand that it was time to stop the current aggression”. Indeed, “aggression”—Trump’s choice of word—implied a vehement rejection of the raison d’être of Operation Sindoor.

On Monday, Trump tightened the screws further by disclosing he told India and Pakistan that if they didn’t stop fighting, “there won’t be any trade”. In his words: “We stopped a nuclear conflict. I think it would have been a bad nuclear war. Millions of people would have been killed. I also want to thank VP JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for their work.”

This unsavoury happening is playing out against the backdrop of the government’s frenetic attempts during the previous 100 days to put India on a path of deeper alignment with the US. The attempts to pamper Trump’s ego, even while stomaching insults, give away unilaterally tangible economic benefits to US companies, get India more integrated with America’s military and tech ecosystems—none of this helped India. Consider the following.

Jayant Bhandari
@JayantBhandari5
Don't Indians want to know why there was no security at Pahalgam? Why were there no video cameras there? Why have they failed to trace the attackers? Why is the Indian government going after innocent Indians to coverup its incompetencies?

https://x.com/JayantBhandari5/status/1924760818932969859

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https://www.lewrockwell.com/2025/05/jayant-bhandari/india-and-pakis...

In the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack, Satya Pal Malik, the former Governor of Kashmir, described Modi as shameless and a coward in a part-Hindi, part-English interview. But perhaps more damningly, drawing on his insider experience, he portrayed the regime as clueless and incompetent. Even during publicly presented as significant meetings, he said, little substance takes place—just good food and idle small talk.

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India’s bored, TV-watching, so-called educated middle class suddenly latched onto the Pahalgam incident as a way to mask their anti-Muslim sentiments with a façade of empathy—and to feel vicariously brave. In the aftermath, Kashmiri and Muslim students were assaulted in various parts of the country. It’s hard to fault Indians for being irrational—rationality simply doesn’t feature in the equation.

Even with total media control, Modi couldn’t stop the middle class from being whipped into a frenzy. The resulting surge of manufactured outrage ultimately led to desperate villagers being sent to the front lines. No one cares about their deaths. Isn’t it remarkable how a mass of otherwise sheepish people can suddenly display such “courage” when swept up in mob fervor? See this.

With elections looming in the state of Bihar, Modi needed to play the strongman. But, like any demagogue, he had to ensure things didn’t spiral out of control—stability, after all, is crucial for preserving his political position.

India launched mock military drills across the country, timed to coincide with what appeared to be its first planned strike on Pakistan. Yet, in typical Indian fashion, the execution was chaotic. I didn’t come across a single place where the sirens worked, and people had no idea what to do. It was dysfunction as usual. See this.

In the early hours of 7 May 2025, over a hundred Indian fighter jets were mobilized in preparation for a dogfight. The aircraft remained on the Indian side of the border, firing from within Indian territory. Yet, according to Pakistani claims, within the first few hours, five Indian fighter jets crashed inside India—an estimated loss of nearly a billion dollars.

The Indian government offered no response. Prominent defence analyst Pravin Sawhney—whose book The Last War I recommend strongly—raised the issue in his two YouTube videos. The government promptly banned both, which, at least partially, confirms that the crashes likely occurred. (Readers in India are advised to use a VPN service to watch the following.) See here.

The well-known U.S.-based money manager Frank Holmes might have put it best: “Follow the money.” The fighter jets used by Pakistan were manufactured by AVIC Chengdu Aircraft, whose share price surged significantly following the incident. In contrast, one of the Indian jets reportedly downed was a Rafale, which was four times more expensive than its Chinese counterpart, produced by Dassault Aviation. Dassault’s share price dropped by around 10%.