Pakistan Navy Locks onto Indian US-Made Military Aircraft
The Pakistan Navy is under immense pressure, as the Indian Navy has aircraft carriers, missile destroyers, conventional submarines, and even a nuclear submarine—its Akula-II-class attack nuclear submarine leased from Russia.
Pakistan faces severe anti-submarine and air defense pressures. It urgently needs a destroyer with air defense and anti-submarine capabilities to conduct 24-hour reconnaissance and surveillance operations along its coastline.
Multiple Pakistani accounts on Twitter X reported that the Pakistan Navy successfully locked onto an Indian large intelligence aircraft and released a video of the target being locked on site.
In the dead of night, a Pakistan Navy destroyer detected and monitored an Indian Air Force P-8A maritime patrol aircraft entering Pakistan's nearby waters while patrolling at sea.
The Pakistan Navy destroyer launched a shipborne helicopter to lock onto the Indian Air Force P-8A maritime patrol aircraft. After being radar-locked, the Indian large anti-submarine aircraft quickly fled toward international waters.
There are two key points here. First, why was the Indian anti-submarine aircraft there? Most likely, it was searching for the Type 039B conventional submarines recently acquired by Pakistan. It was paving the way for India's Vikrant carrier strike group.
To prevent a sudden conflict where hidden Pakistan Type 039B submarines in the Arabian Sea could launch sub-launched Yingji anti-ship missiles and severely damage India's aircraft carrier.
Secondly, the Indian anti-submarine patrol aircraft were searching for Pakistan's deployment situation, looking for land-based anti-ship missiles and land-based air defense radar positions, providing target information for Indian Air Force aircraft and missiles.
Secondly, the Pakistan Navy probably deployed the Type 054A destroyer. The Pakistan Navy has 11 destroyers. One British Type 21 destroyer is already very old and rarely goes out to sea. One American Perry-class destroyer has been in service for over 40 years, and when delivered, the U.S. Navy even removed the Standard 1 missiles.
Two Dutch 2,000-ton patrol vessels, and four F-22 light destroyers all lack helicopter equipment. The only ships in the Pakistan Navy capable of long-term deployment with shipborne helicopters to perform area air defense in the Arabian Sea to prevent sudden strikes from Indian aircraft carriers, as well as anti-submarine tasks to monitor Indian nuclear submarines are these.
This is the most advanced destroyer in the Pakistan Navy—four Type 054AP missile destroyers. Therefore, it is highly likely that the Type 054AP destroyer was the one that successfully tracked the $300 million (2.1 billion RMB) US-made P-8A anti-submarine aircraft at sea this time. After the J-10 fighter jet defeated the Rafale fighter jet, Chinese weapons once again succeeded in locking onto the US-made large anti-submarine aircraft.
India Places High Importance on Suppressing Pakistan's Navy
The Indian Navy has already equipped two aircraft carriers and is preparing to commission a third. The number of Indian Navy destroyers and frigates exceeds 30. India also has 16 conventional submarines from France, Germany, and Russia, as well as at least three nuclear submarines.
The Indian Navy and Air Force have always paid close attention to searching for and suppressing Pakistan's Type 039B submarines. To search for and strike Pakistan's Type 039B submarines, the Indian Navy aviation and the Indian Air Force are equipped with at least 12 US-made P-8A anti-submarine aircraft, five Il-38SD anti-submarine aircraft, and eight Tu-142 long-range reconnaissance anti-submarine aircraft.
India is also ordering 30 MQ-9 Sea Guardian large marine drones and Harpy long-endurance large reconnaissance drones from the United States. This forms a vast maritime combat system directly pressuring Pakistan in the Arabian Sea.
India is the strongest country in the entire Indian Ocean region, with more than half of the world's trade passing through the Indian Ocean. India is a military ally of Russia, and relations with the United States are also good. The entire Western bloc gets along well with India, so India doesn't need to worry about these countries.
India actually doesn't need to defend against our maritime forces because our surrounding situation is relatively tense, and most of the naval forces are deployed in surrounding seas. The only force that can be routinely deployed in the Indian Ocean is the approximately 3-4 warships of the anti-piracy force in the Gulf of Aden.
The only hypothetical enemy for the Indian Navy is Pakistan, and India still has a significant advantage.
Pakistan's Type 054A destroyer and Type 039B submarine can only conduct defensive operations. Pakistan's current countermeasures mainly include three aspects: first, discovering JF-17 fighters equipped with CM-400 supersonic anti-ship missiles to provide aerial sea control cover for coastal areas; second, developing ballistic missiles with a range of 450 kilometers to directly cover New Delhi, India's capital, so if the Indian Navy attacks Karachi, they will be retaliated with missile strikes on New Delhi; third, strengthening the Type 039B submarine force to conduct guerrilla warfare against India's oil convoys in the Persian Gulf-Arabian Sea region.
Original Source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7501244057432097291/
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