How Pakistan shot down India’s cutting-edge fighter using Chinese gear

By Saeed Shah and Shivam Patel

İslamabad/New Delhi, August 2 (Reuters) -7 After midnight, the screen in the Pakistan Air Force’s operation room was illuminated with dozens of active enemy planes on the Indian border.

Air Chief Mshl. Zaheer Sidhu was sleeping in a bed in that room for days with an Indian attack.

The new Delhi accused Islamabad for supporting militants who killed 26 civilians in the Indian Kashmir the previous month. Although Islamabad rejected any participation, India replied with air strikes in Pakistan in the early hours of May 7.

Sidhu ordered Pakistan to interfere with the award-winning Chinese J-10C jets. A senior Pakistani Air Force (PAF) official in the operation room told Sidhu’s staff to target Rafalas, a French -made warrior, the jewel of India’s fleet and never fell in war.

“He wanted Rafalas,” he said.

One -hour fight in the dark contained about 110 aircraft, experts estimated and for decades of making it the world’s largest air war.

In May of the J-10s, referring to US officials reported at least one Rafale. Downing surprised many people in the military community and asked questions about the effectiveness of Western military equipment against unpretentious Chinese alternatives.

Dassault shares, who made Rafale, were dipped after the warrior was shot. Indonesia, an extraordinary Rafale orders, said that China is now considering buying J-10s, which is a great support for its efforts to sell the plane abroad.

However, Reuters, two Indian officials and Pakistani colleagues, and three interviews found that Rafale’s performance was not key: In the center of Downing, the Chinese-made PL-15 missile fired by the J-10 hunter aircraft was the failure of Indian intelligence failure. China and Pakistan are the only country that runs both J-10s and PL-15s known as Vigorous Dragons.

Indian officials, faulty intelligence, Rafale pilots gave a false sense of trust, which they believe was only 150 km from Pakistani fire distance.

Dik We ambushed them, Paf Paf official said that Islamabad had a electronic war attack on Delhi’s systems to confuse Indian pilots. Indian officials object to the effectiveness of these efforts.

“The Indians did not expect to be shot,” London Royal United Services (RUSI) Think-Bank Air War expert, “The Indians did not expect to be shot.” He said. “And the PL-15 is clearly very talented in long range.”

According to Pakistani officials, the PL-15 hit Rafale, about 200km (124.27 miles), and even further away from Indian officials. This will be among the longest-range air-air strikes recorded.

India’s defense and external ministries did not give comments about intelligence errors. Delhi refused to accept that a Rafale was shot, but France’s air chief told journalists in June, and said that he saw evidence of the loss of the other two aircraft, including this warrior and a Russian -made Sukhoi. The best Dassault manager told the French deputies that India lost a Rafale in operations, but even though it did not have certain details.

The Pakistan army referred to the past interpretations of a spokesman who said that it was more important than the weapons deployed by his professional preparation and determination. The Chinese Ministry of Defense did not answer Reuters’ questions. Dassault and UAC, the producer of Sukhoi, did not give comments.

“Situational awareness”

Reuters spoke with eight Pakistan and two Indian officials to bring together an account of the air war, which pointed to the beginning of the four -day fight between two nuclear armed neighbors in Washington. Authorities spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss national security issues.

Pakistani and Indian officials not only had a surprise element with the range of the missiles of Islamabad, but also managed to tie military equipment more efficiently for the surveillance of the ground and in the air and provided a clearer picture of the battlefield. Such networks, known as “kill chains”, have become an important element of modern war.

Four Pakistani officials, air, land and space sensors connecting together by connecting a “killing chain” or a multi -area operation, he said. According to the two Pakistani official, the Network had data connection 17, a system developed by Pakistan, which associated Chinese military equipment with other equipment, including a Swedish surveillance aircraft.

The system allowed the J-10s to approach India, allowed radar feeds far from the surveillance aircraft, that is, it could not be determined that Chinese warriors could not be closed and could not be detected. The Pakistani army did not respond to the requests for comments on this issue.

Indian officials are trying to establish a similar network of Delhi.

Retired UK Air Mshl. Greg Bagwell, a man in Russi, said that the section does not prove the superiority of China or Western air assets, but showed the importance of having and using the right information.

Bagwell said, “This was the best -winning side of this winner,” he said.

Change in tactics

In the early hours of May 7, he hit the targets he called a terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan after India, ordered to attack the Sidhu fleets without defense.

Five PAF officials said that India uses 70 aircraft, it is more than they expect, and Islamabad’s PL-15s provide a rich environment in terms of target. India did not say how many planes were used.

The May 7 War of the May 7 pointed out that both India and Pakistani planes remained good in the airports during the fight period, and pointed out the first major air competition of the modern era, where weapons were used to hit goals beyond the visual range.

Five Pakistani officials said an electronic attack on Indian sensors and communication systems reduces the situational awareness of Rafale pilots.

The two Indian officials said Rafalas was not blind during the clashes and that Indian satellites were not stuck. However, Pakistan’s Delhi systems have now agreed that it has broken Sukhoi, which has now been raised.

Other Indian security officials, the center of India’s military modernization from Rafale’den Air Force to destroy questions about orders.

India’s Defense Attaché in Jakarta said that Delhi lost some aircraft in a university seminar “because of the restriction of attacking military organizations (Pakistan) on military organizations and air defenses.”

India’s defense chief General Anil Chauhan told Reuters that after the first losses, Delhi quickly “corrected the tactics”.

After the May 7 air war, India began to target the military infrastructure of Pakistan and claim its power in the heavens. According to officials on both sides, Indian -made Brahmos Supersonic Cruise missile has repeatedly sliced Pakistan’s air defenses.

On May 10, India said at least nine air bases and radar fields in Pakistan. According to Indian and Pakistani officials, he hit an surveillance aircraft parked in a hangar south of Pakistan. After negotiating with both sides of the US officials, a ceasefire was accepted later on that day.

‘Live Entries’

After the department, Lieutenant Gen. Rahul Singh accused Pakistan of receiving “live input ve from China during wars and meant radar and satellite publications. It did not provide evidence and Islamabad rejected the claim.

When a briefing was asked about Beijing in Pakistan in July, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning told journalists that the study was “part of the normal cooperation between the two countries and does not target any third side.”

Two PAF officials, Beijing Air Chief Lieutenant Gen. Wang Gang visited Pakistan to discuss how Islamabad uses Chinese equipment to bring together the “killing chain” for Rafale.

China did not answer when asked about this interaction. The Pakistani army said in July that Wang was interested in learning from the experience that caused the war in Multi -field operations, Wang said in July.

(John Irish’s additional reports in Paris, Idrees Ali in Washington, Nur-Azna Sanusi in Singapore and Beijing Newsroom; Katerina Ang)