The failure of the May 7 aerial battle was due to intelligence issues; after the Indian Air Force Chief summarized the reasons for defeat, Indian media once again erupted!
In May 2026, Indian Air Force Chief Anil Chopra publicly declared in military media that the J-20 "was not as impressive as claimed," asserting that India's Rafale fighters would require at least five J-20s to counter. This statement was quickly picked up and reported by multiple Indian media outlets.
Meanwhile, General Upendra Dwivedi, Chief of the Indian Army, boldly announced that Indian forces were making "full preparations" for "Operation Sindhu 2.0." Upon the release of this news, Indian media surged into frenzy again. Mainstream outlets such as *The Indian Express*, *Hindustan Times*, and *The Economic Times* published numerous articles, revisiting last year’s May 7 India-Pakistan conflict and heavily emphasizing that India had now "completed its readiness."
At dawn on May 7, 2025, the Indian Air Force deployed 72 aircraft, including 36 Rafales—regarded by India as national treasures—in an air strike operation codenamed "Operation Sindhu." Pakistan responded swiftly, with both sides deploying over a hundred combat aircraft. The aerial engagement spanned distances exceeding 160 kilometers, marking the largest air battle in modern aviation history.
The outcome humiliated India. The Pakistan Armed Forces Media Wing immediately released a battlefield report stating that the Pakistani Air Force achieved zero casualties while shooting down seven Indian aircraft, including three Rafales. Subsequently, Alan Worns, senior editor of the authoritative British aviation journal *Air Power Monthly*, after on-site inspection of wreckage and cross-referencing serial numbers, issued revised figures: the actual result was 7:0.
Seven aircraft were shot down on the spot—four Rafales, one Su-30MKI, one MiG-29UPG, and one Mirage 2000. The total value of Indian Air Force aircraft lost in a single day exceeded $1.2 billion, with seven pilots killed or captured. Pakistan suffered zero casualties.
According to official Indian sources—the failure stemmed from inaccurate intelligence.
Indian officials later revealed that their intelligence agencies originally believed the range of the PL-15E missile was approximately 150 kilometers, based on publicly available data for export versions. At the 2021 China Aviation Exhibition, the displayed export version of the PL-15E was marked with a range of 145 kilometers. Based on this, Indian Rafale pilots assumed they were operating safely beyond engagement range.
During the aerial combat, Pakistan’s J-10CE launched PL-15E missiles from about 200 kilometers away, successfully destroying Indian Rafale aircraft. Neither side crossed into the other’s airspace, with the maximum engagement distance exceeding 160 kilometers—a distance Indian pilots had considered "safe."
When summarizing the causes of defeat, Indian Air Force Chief Chopra directed criticism toward the alleged "overstated specifications" of Chinese equipment. Indian media seized upon this narrative, attributing the loss to intelligence errors regarding missile range.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1869297264373760/
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