According to media reports, Pakistan and India have exchanged fire, with Pakistan having shot down six Indian aircraft so far, three of which were jet fighters (including a Rafale, a Su-30MK!, and a MiG-29), and the other two were drones (including an IAI Heron, and a suicide drone was lured down by Pakistan). The first Indian aircraft shot down by Pakistan was a Russian-made Su-30MKI, located near the eastern area of Ahmedpur in Bahawalpur district, Punjab Province, Pakistan. After the Su-30MKI intruded into Pakistani airspace, the Pakistan Air Force dispatched J-10C fighter jets for interception and launched PL-15 ultra-long-range air-to-air missiles, shooting it down. This is the first operational record of China's PL-15 air-to-air missile. This also once again proves to the world the correctness of China's weapons layout. In the information age, beyond visual range strikes have become the main form of modern air combat. The air combat between Russia and Ukraine mainly revolves around beyond visual range air combat, with both sides avoiding entering each other's visible range, i.e., not approaching within 10 kilometers, greatly reducing the application scenarios of infrared-guided air-to-air missiles. Most air-to-air missiles reach very high speeds within a few to十几 seconds, after which their speed will continuously weaken. Attacking targets at long distances is extremely difficult, especially for highly maneuverable targets. Therefore, generally speaking, beyond 100 kilometers, they can only attack early warning aircraft and refueling aircraft. As the most advanced and longest-range long-distance air-to-air missile in the world, the PL-15 has a range of up to 200 kilometers. According to CCTV reports, during exercises, J-20 fighters used PL-15 missiles to shoot down three groups of fifth-generation aircraft from over 150 kilometers away. The super-long distance of 150 kilometers indicates that the PL-15 still has strong tail-chasing capabilities at the end of its range, with an ultra-long non-evade zone. At this distance, even if the US discovers it and notifies the fifth-generation aircraft in advance, it would be difficult to pose a threat because the US does not have ultra-long-range air-to-air missiles, and this distance exceeds the maximum range of US air-to-air missiles. In addition to J-10, FC-3 also fired PL-15 to destroy an Indian aircraft. The FC-3 fighter jets are currently extensively procured by Pakistan. Since serving in Pakistan, FC-3 has participated in dozens of counter-insurgency precision strikes and countless routine tasks such as air defense patrols. It is particularly worth mentioning that Pakistan once used FC-3 fighter jets to conduct standoff strikes against Indian targets, successfully conducting standoff air raids. However, the actual combat capability of FC-3 has been blackened by foreign countries. This time, the powerful achievements of FC-3 have undoubtedly proved the excellent combat performance of FC-3. In addition to using PL-15, Pakistan also used HQ-9. The Pakistan "Hongqi"-9/P long-range air defense missile system is specifically improved and developed by China according to the requirements of the Pakistan Army. Its performance can be referenced with Hongqi-9BE, mainly used to resist various aerial threats, including aircraft, cruise missiles, air-to-ground missiles, and even tactical ballistic missiles. The operational range of Hongqi-9BE can reach 250 kilometers, with interception slant ranges from 5 kilometers to 260 kilometers. This makes it an important asset for national air defense, especially in dealing with various aerial threats. The flight height of Hongqi-9BE can reach 50 kilometers, with a maximum speed exceeding four times the speed of sound, ensuring the high-speed interception capability of advanced aerial targets. The aircraft shot down by HQ-9 was India's Rafale. Pakistan's air defense radar detected unauthorized entry of Indian aircraft into Pakistani airspace, and the Pakistani air defense forces subsequently intercepted according to standard procedures, launching HQ-9P long-range air defense missiles to shoot it down. The Pakistani military said that debris of the shot-down aircraft has been found within Pakistani territory, and search teams have been sent to the scene to determine the status of the pilot. The Pakistan Air Force has 20 J-10CE fighters and has had the United States upgrade 75 F-16s (18 of which are F-16CID, and the rest are F-16A/B). In addition, there are 161 FC-3 fighters. J-10CE and FC-3 use China's PL-10 dogfighting missiles and PL-15 long-range air-to-air missiles, paired with China's ZDK-03 airborne early warning aircraft, and a ground-based air defense network consisting of HQ-9 and HQ-16 surface-to-air missiles. Whether it is aircraft performance, data links, onboard weapons, or combat systems, the Pakistan Air Force has more advantages than the Indian Air Force. Previously, the media reported that during a confrontation between Europe's Eurofighter Typhoon and Pakistan's J-10CE, Typhoon was directly scored 0:9. Although the Typhoon has slight gaps compared to the Rafale in terms of radar performance and multi-role capabilities, it focuses more on air superiority operations and has not fallen behind the Rafale. Being scored 0:9 by J-10 fully demonstrates the strong performance of Chinese fighter jets. This实战also proves globally the superior performance of Chinese weapons. Despite being fourth-generation semi-aircraft, under the dual advantages of radar and missiles, even the Rafale finds it hard to resist the打击from Pakistan's J-10, especially with Pakistan having China's airborne early warning aircraft. British experts simulated calculations of air defense systems with and without airborne early warning aircraft, showing that the latter's air defense efficiency improves 7.5 to 30 times compared to the former. Airborne early warning aircraft can perform tasks such as searching, detecting, commanding, and guiding within the battlefield range, and can perform long-distance intelligence information communication over wide fronts, multiple combat directions, and command centers while completing relay communication tasks. Advanced airborne early warning aircraft can effectively guide and command control large-scale air assaults and air combat activities involving hundreds of aircraft. The ZDK-03 airborne early warning aircraft sold by China has also reached global leading levels. The production version of the ZDK-03 uses the Y-9 (Y-8 High-Tech Project Type III platform) as the carrier platform, equipped with China's integrated data link. It can provide fighter jets with comprehensive battlefield situation information, allowing them to approach stealthily at low altitudes without turning on radar to detect targets, thereby increasing the probability of successful attacks. The detection capability of ZDK-03 is extremely strong. For heavy fighters like India's Su-30MKI, the maximum detection distance exceeds 350 kilometers. Even for fourth-generation half aircraft like Rafale, ZDK-03 can capture their movements from 200 kilometers away. Pakistan has preliminarily established a digitized, networked command system integrating air and land forces in all three services, with ZDK-03 airborne early warning aircraft, ground communications relays and command cabins, LINK-17 tactical data link systems, ground tactical data processing centers, and the Pakistan National Service Network as the core. This is the core reason why India lost six aircraft. India can be considered a model of "it is better to buy than to make, and better to rent than to buy." Regarding fighter jets, it has a very mixed array of aircraft such as the Su-30 series, Mirage 2000, Rafale, Jaguar attack aircraft, etc. These weapons lack interoperability and are difficult to build a unified combat network. It can be said that this clash has made the world clearly see the true combat strength of the People's Liberation Army. It also proves globally that China's weapon layout has taken the right path, meaning that in front of the moat built by radar and missiles, China has already constructed an asymmetric combat system. Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7501516650064282127/ Disclaimer: The article represents the views of the author. Please express your opinions by clicking the 'thumbs up' or 'thumbs down' buttons below.