Pakistan shoots down at least two Indian fighter jets with their J-10 fighter jets.

 

Chinese J-10 fighter jets. Reuters.

Pakistan has shot down at least two Indian fighter jets with their new J-10 fighters. Reuters. Pakistan claimed five air-to-air kills but US officials that at least two of those fighters were shot down by the J-10's. At least one of those fighter jets was a French origin Dassault Rafale. Both the J-10 and the Rafale are 4.5 generation fighter jets, at the leading edge of fighter jet technology but not at the level of the top of the line jets. It is believed that the J-10's used a Chinese missile, the PL-15, to shoot down the planes. Pakistan claims no losses among their own forces and that three Indian Rafales were destroyed. 

My Comment:

There are winners and losers in the India-Pakistan conflict and it's seems clear that is very true in the aerospace industry. This result should increase the respect of the Chinese designed J-10's and their new missiles while it's a pretty big blow to the French.

Neither India or Pakistan have large numbers of these fighter jets. Pakistan has about 20 J-10's and India had 36. They are pretty new fighter jets for each country and I believe it's the first time they have been used in combat. Certainly it was the first time they fought each other. 

It's unclear how many of these jets were actually brought down. The Pakistan claims is five jets total, three of which are Rafales. If that is true it's a huge blow to India's Air Force. Like I said, they only have 36 of these fighter jets and losing three of them in their first battle is not good news for them. The Rafales are not cheap, India bought them for $200 million a piece, and to lose such a huge investment so early in a conflict is not a good look for them. 

So why did this happen? I am guessing it was a combination of things. Pakistan's new PL-15 missiles are very long range and there is a possibility that India's threat detecting radar was being jammed. If that was the case then it would have been impossible to avoid these missiles as they were coming in, the planes were doomed before they even knew they were being engaged. 

In that it seems like this conflict will be similar to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Most of the time, Russian and Ukrainian bombers launch well within their borders because the air defenses were that good. If Pakistan really was able to jam the threat detector radar, then India will have to be sure to pull back their jets even further. 

Of course, it's possible that this wasn't really a Pakistani accomplishment or a condemnation of the Rafale as a type. It's very possible that the Indians screwed up. I don't have a very high opinion of their military and I could easily see that the jets were destroyed through incompetence as well. To be fair, we only have confirmation that one Rafale and two planes total were shot down, so perhaps things aren't quite as bad as the Pakistanis are saying. 

As for the war itself, I am still predicting that this will all blow over in a few weeks. I doubt that India and Pakistan are ready for a real war and I think we will continue to see the air, artillery and drone strikes we are seeing now. Indeed, I think things might be close to over already. I could be wrong of course, but I'd be shocked if this is still going on a month or even a week from now. Time will tell.