[Military Second Plane] Author: Lele

On the 25th, with already high tensions, India and Pakistan exchanged fire in the early hours, with gunshots ringing out in the Jhelum Valley. Fortunately, this is a common occurrence for the forward outposts of India and Pakistan. The "aimless shooting" lasted about an hour before ending without triggering a large-scale conflict. However, under the current circumstances, Pakistan is extremely grateful for its decision several years ago to purchase a large number of main equipment from China, while India bitterly regrets wasting the past few years.

▲The J-10CE is crucial for the Pakistani Air Force

About 150 kilometers north of the Jhelum Valley is the Kamra Air Base in Pakistan, home to the 15th "Cobra" Squadron, which is currently the only unit to have fully equipped itself with the J-10CE. This squadron has formidable combat capabilities, and the 16th "Panther" Squadron, which has also deployed to this base, is equipped with the "JF-17" Block 3. Additionally, Pakistan has built a maintenance facility for the "JF-17" near the base, and the base itself houses over 40 reinforced concrete aircraft shelters. Kamra is a key node in resisting Indian air power and serves as the main defense for Islamabad.

▲The "JF-17" is used as auxiliary force for the J-10CE

In October 2021, Pakistan announced the formal induction of the Hongqi-9P missiles imported from China. The exact quantity is unknown, but at least one set is deployed near Islamabad. In January 2024, news spread that Pakistan was preparing to retire the ZDK-03 imported from China and focus on the "Erieye" AEW&C aircraft purchased from Europe, causing a public uproar. People debated for nearly a week. Eventually, the Pakistani Air Force itself came forward to clarify that the ZDK-03 was being sent back to AVIC for upgrades rather than being retired. Meanwhile, the "Falcon-20" special electronic warfare aircraft purchased from France earlier has also been modified by AVIC and integrated into the new operational system.

▲The upgraded ZDK-03 is now the command center for the Pakistani Air Force

In other words, within just a few years, Pakistan has utilized its resources to integrate early warning aircraft, electronic warfare aircraft, long-range surface-to-air missiles, and dozens of fourth-generation half fighters into a single operational system. By contrast, the Indian Air Force's performance in resource integration over the past six years has been poor. It is still in a state where there are many Su-30MKIs with slightly inferior individual performance, the A-50I AWACS aircraft has many problems; the Rafale has excellent performance but is in short supply, and the "Eye in the Sky" AWACS aircraft has too simple functionality, making it difficult to conduct aerial command. This is also the fundamental reason why the outside world generally does not expect good Indian air combat performance in the face of the current deadlock between the two sides.

▲Indian AWACS development is relatively chaotic

In terms of maritime defense, India currently has an advantage, as the "Vikrant" carrier strike group is a crushing force against the Pakistani Navy. However, although Pakistan lacks the ability to destroy the "Vikrant," its naval defense system, after years of development, is not something to be taken lightly. Generally speaking, when people think of Pakistan's naval defense, the first thing that comes to mind is the four 054AP frigates. These 4,000-ton frigates are now in Pakistan in a position similar to that of the four "Modern" class ships domestically twenty years ago. More than ten years ago, the YJ-12 export version served as the main anti-ship weapon domestically, but now it is quite impressive in South Asia.

▲The 054AP is the main warship of the Pakistani Navy

In addition, Pakistan actually has another more covert naval defense equipment—the CM-400AKG anti-ship missile carried by the "JF-17" Block 3. Although this missile is not the rumored "air-launched anti-ship ballistic missile," its maximum speed of close to Mach 3 and a range of 240 kilometers pose significant deterrence to the Indian Navy, which has weak ship-to-air defenses and still lacks the capability for 100-kilometer-level air defense. The only issue is that this heavyweight missile makes it difficult for the "JF-17" Block 3 to carry, so it can only be mounted with two auxiliary fuel tanks or even receive in-flight refueling to barely carry one. In the long term, at the very least, it should be used by fighter jets of the level of the J-10CE to make sense.

▲Pakistan has too few J-10CE fighters

After years of effort, Pakistan has largely completed the planning to integrate its main naval and air equipment into a new operational system. This means that its naval and air operations are no longer solo efforts but multidimensional joint operations. For example, the supersonic anti-ship missiles carried by the 054AP have a range far exceeding their search distance, making it difficult for them to perform optimally on their own. However, with data provided by the "JF-17" Block 3 in front and guided by the ZDK-03 in the middle, the 054AP doesn't need to be on the front line to aim its anti-ship missiles. This is a world apart from the situation six years ago when Pakistan had F-16 fighters but was severely restricted by many constraints.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7497470292772635177/

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