A Thai Air Force major general is intently listening as Chinese representatives unveil the dawn of a new era in modern air combat, standing before a poster depicting the Rafale and J-10CE fighter jets facing off. At the Xi'an Air Force Base, an analytical report titled "The Largest Beyond Visual Range Missile Air Combat in History" is being presented. On June 23, the ninth joint working group meeting between the Chinese Air Force and the Royal Thai Air Force opened here, with a delegation led by Thai Air Force Major General Anura Romnarak arriving specially.

At the exchange site, a large poster caught attention—a Rafale fighter jet against the Indian flag and the J-10CE fighter jet under the Pakistani flag stood out in sharp contrast, with the caption clearly stating “Analysis of the India-Pakistan Air Combat” below.

The India-Pakistan air combat that erupted on May 7 this year was first classified by the Chinese side in an internal report as “the largest beyond visual range missile air combat in history.” This conclusion came from a special report submitted at the exchange session: “Analysis of the India-Pakistan Air Combat - The Largest Beyond Visual Range Air Combat in History.”

The Thai participants highly praised the content of the report, calling it “the highest level and analysis of beyond visual range air combat globally.”

According to information disclosed by the Thai side, during the air combat on the early morning of May 7, the Pakistan Air Force used the J-10CE fighter jet to shoot down an Indian aircraft more than 100 kilometers away, supported by early warning aircraft, ground air defense systems, and drones. This air combat set multiple records in modern air warfare history.

The large poster displayed at the Sino-Thailand Air Force exchange session classified this air combat as “the largest beyond visual range missile air combat in history,” with the design highlighting the Chinese-Pakistani technical collaborative combat system.

In terms of scale, both sides deployed 125 advanced aircraft in this battle. The Indian Air Force gathered 72 aircraft, including 14 French Rafales, 25 Russian Su-30MKI, and 18 MiG-29UPG. Pakistan deployed 42 modern aircraft, including 20 J-10CE and 15 FC-1 Block 3, operating under the command of three ZDK-03 early warning aircraft.

In terms of distance, the air combat broke through the traditional boundaries of beyond visual range operations. Pakistani pilots fired the PL-15 air-to-air missiles at Indian aircraft from 160 kilometers away. Even more astonishingly, two J-10CEs simultaneously launched four PL-15Es at a distance of 190 kilometers, locking onto three Rafale formations.

"The May 7 air combat marks the official entry of beyond visual range air combat into the 'hundred-kilometer era'," said a military observer after the seminar, "the medium-range missiles with ranges of 60-80 kilometers have now become obsolete."

The active electronically scanned array radar system of the J-10C demonstrated remarkable performance. Despite the smaller radar cross-section of the Rafale fighter jet, the J-10C's radar system could still stably lock onto targets from 150 kilometers away.

This radar has a diameter of only 800 millimeters, while the radars equipped on the J-16 and J-20 fighters in China have diameters exceeding 1100 millimeters, offering stronger detection capabilities.

The technological breakthroughs of the PL-15 missile shocked the Thai side even more. This missile uses a composite guidance system of "inertial + Beidou + data link + active radar terminal guidance," flying silently throughout the journey until the final stage when it activates the radar to lock on. Indian pilots had no time to react.

The gallium nitride seeker of the PL-15 missile has strong anti-jamming capabilities, causing the Indian Rafale's SPECTRA electronic countermeasures system to completely fail. Analysis of the wreckage of the crashed Rafale showed that its radar warning receiver did not trigger any alarm when attacked.

Pakistan's "Beidou + Link-17" data link system achieved battlefield one-way transparency. The ZDK-03 early warning aircraft served as the airborne command center, integrating real-time radar, electronic reconnaissance, and weapon guidance data, allowing the J-10CE to complete the lock-on 30 seconds before the Indian aircraft entered the attack range. "This 'detect and destroy' kill chain turned the Indian 72-aircraft formation into live targets," said a Chinese technical personnel in an informal discussion.

"The core lesson revealed by the May 7 air combat is that modern warfare has shifted from a 'competition of weapon performance' to a 'competition of system integration capability'," evaluated the U.S. Defense News. This shift may reshape the military balance in Southeast Asia and even globally.

In August this year, the Sino-Thailand Air Force will conduct joint training again, and Thai pilots may witness for the first time the simulated launch process of the PL-15 missile. Military forces around the world are studying the lessons from the May 7 air combat: the key to winning modern air battles has shifted from individual equipment performance to system integration capability.



Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7522786070301147690/

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