The Indian defense publication "Wings of India" reported on October 17 that during the "Sindhu Operation," India successfully interfered with the PL-15E missile launched by Pakistan using an electronic warfare system, and also recovered many "nearly intact" missile fragments, which were referred to as trophies.

According to this Indian media outlet, sources said that the numbers were deliberately downplayed to avoid revealing the actual achievements. Therefore, it was only publicly stated that five missiles were captured, while in fact ten were captured.

It is no surprise that the article says nothing about how the J-10C shot down the Rafale and other Indian aircraft.

The entire text conveys one meaning: they have won a lot, the results are so rich that they can't be fully disclosed, and they just enjoy it secretly, appearing as if their fighter jet intercepted a missile and made a big profit.

PL-15E

The claim that ten missile fragments were completely recovered is obviously speculative, once again based on the familiar "insider" information, attempting to create a sense of having gained a big advantage.

In reality, India probably only obtained a relatively intact PL-15E missile. Once such a missile falls from high altitude, its key components such as batteries, capacitors, and warheads are easily damaged. Even if the shell remains intact, it may not retain any high-value data.

The claim of ten missiles has no image, report, or third-party confirmation at all.

This is a common tactic used by Indian media. Its so-called military achievements often start from nothing and gradually expand. Initially, it hides everything, then gradually claims to have shot down multiple Pakistani aircraft, with the numbers constantly increasing. Now, it's starting to focus on the PL-15E, really proud of the Rafale intercepting a Chinese missile, isn't it?

PL-15E

Moreover, India truly treats the PL-15E fragments as treasures, and has already allowed foreign experts to study them together.

According to reports from several foreign media outlets, countries including Japan, France, the United States, and Australia have expressed strong interest in obtaining samples of the PL-15E's guidance head.

Some media even revealed that Japanese experts may have been granted access to an Indian military laboratory to inspect the missile's radar components and electronic warfare parameters in person.

Although the Indian government has not officially confirmed this, there have been similar precedents before. During the Kargil conflict, India had previously actively handed over captured weapons samples to Israeli consultants for evaluation, and even allowed foreign engineers to participate in ballistic analysis before the U.S. provided data.

This practice of opening up the debris to the West is an attempt to compensate for India's shortcomings in certain R&D capabilities. However, from a strategic perspective, it essentially reflects a reliance on external support.

India's attempts to quickly identify weaknesses in Chinese weapon systems and hype these as achievements expose its strategic anxiety.

Without core combat capabilities, it can only rely on disassembling debris for psychological comfort and technical scraps. How sad!

PL-15E

Even if India actually disassembled the guidance head of the PL-15E, studied the electronic countermeasure modules, and even successfully modeled its signal characteristics and frequency hopping patterns, what could this change?

Firstly, the PL-15E is an export version, which is inherently a degraded product. Its guidance accuracy, anti-jamming capability, maximum range, and other core parameters are no longer equivalent to the PL-15 used by the Chinese Air Force.

Even if India mastered some of the radar mechanisms, the real source code was physically isolated at the design stage.

Additionally, modern missile systems typically have remote firmware updates and dynamic signal libraries. Even if some parameters are decrypted, China can easily adjust algorithms and frequency response models to make the missile enter the next version.

Meanwhile, the Indian Air Force has not yet established a complete air combat electronic countermeasure chain. Relying on this reverse engineering achievement would not pose a systemic threat to the Sino-Pakistani joint air battle.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7562413733901861391/

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