Indian officials are staying quiet about Pakistan claims to have destroyed at least five jets in a huge battle involving 125.
The “dog fight” between Pakistani and Indian fighter jets, which Pakistani officials say downed five Indian planes, was one of the “largest and longest in recent aviation history,” a senior Pakistani security source told CNN. The Pakistani claim has not been corroborated and could not be immediately verified by Newsweek.
A total of 125 fighter jets engaged in an hour-long aerial battle, with both sides confined to their own airspace as long-range missiles were exchanged at distances surpassing 100 miles, CNN said.
Notably, the real-world combat performance of the Chinese-made jets and long-range air-to-air missiles deployed by Pakistan are being intensely studied.
Pakistan’s major fighter jets are related to China, including the Chinese-made J-10CE and the JF-17, which was developed jointly by the two countries. According to Chinese media, Pakistan has ordered 36 J-10CE jets, of which the first 20 have been in service.
Pakistan’s foreign minister said that the J-10CE jets were employed to shoot down Indian fighter aircraft, and the Chinese ambassador was informed about the military action.
France has independently confirmed that they supplied one of the lost Indian jets.
If a PL-15-armed J-10C did indeed neutralize a Rafale in combat, the implications are considerable. It would suggest not only a shift in tactical air superiority but a broader realignment of regional power dynamics. While India fields a diverse and numerically superior air force—including Su-30MKIs, MiG-29s, Mirage 2000s, and indigenous Tejas fighters—Pakistan’s focused investments in electronic warfare and missile reach may have introduced an asymmetric capability that challenges India’s technological edge.
Such a scenario also signals the transformation of air warfare into a domain where electronic warfare, radar range, and missile kinematics matter more than traditional dogfighting ability. In that context, the Rafale’s superiority in maneuverability and close-combat survivability may not be sufficient in a scenario where the first shot, fired from beyond 100 kilometers, determines the outcome.
The implications are indeed severe, that the Chinese could easily mop up both Russian and Indian airspace.
Update: US officials claim they can confirm two French-made Indian jets were shot down by the Chinese-made Pakistani air-to-air missiles.
Update: India also seems to have lost at least one MiG-29 along with at least two confirmed Rafale. Technical analysts are predictably saying it’s not the planes, it’s the players.
And while the loss of a Rafale, especially to a Chinese-designed fighter, if confirmed, would be a huge propaganda win for Pakistan and, to some degree, China, the reality is that modern air combat is far more than a simple fighter-versus-fighter affair. In the long run, other aspects, including training, munitions, networking, airborne early warning, electronic warfare, tactics, and much more, will play into successes and failures.