India has shed its bottom fighter aircraft, the Rafale EH. Three Rafale planes were shot down. In addition, at least one Sukhoi and one MIG plus a large Israel reconnaissance drone were destroyed by Pakistan’s air power.
Until the latest weather conflict, India had acquired 34 Rafale flight soldiers. These are multimission programs suitable for all combat aviation operations: air supremacy and heat protection, near air support, in-depth strikes, surveillance, anti-ship strikes and nuclear punishment.
In the latest fight, which evidently lasted around an hour, the Rafales were carrying SCALP boat weapons, which in the UK are known as Storm Shadow. These weapons have been used heavily in Ukraine.
The Rafales also had MICA ( missiled’interception, de , combat et d’auto-défense ) air-to-air missiles. At least one of these weapons was found near the accident page of the first Rafale that was broken. That Rafale had a neck title of BS-001, meaning it was the first Rafale delivered to the Indian air force. BS means second chair.
Th c mbat that to k pl distance, ce not a classical was at a close-encounter dogfight. Pakistan was operating over Pakistani air space when its J-10 jet ( Chinese but co-produced in Pakistan ) launched Chinese PL-15 air to air missiles. Some parts of a PL-15 missile have been recovered on Indian territory, including part of its AESA ( active electronically scanned array ) radar.
The PL-15 is China’s answer to the US AIM-120D AMRAAM (advanced medium-range air-to-air missile ) which is an all-weather, beyond-visual-range missile. It has a range of 200 to 300 km ( 124 to 186 miles ), although the export version is 145 km (90 miles ). It is assumed Pakistan has the trade type. The PL-15 is very hard. Once launched, its speed is around Mach-5 (6, 173 kph or 3, 836 mph ).
By way of comparison, the European MICA air to air weapon has a considerably shorter variety, around 60 to 80 km ( 37 to 50 km ). So the Chinese PL-15 as a stand-off tool has a major advantage. That seems to have paid off in the current meeting.
The US Air Force has put most of its bet on two functions:
- cunning for websites such as the F-22 and F-35, and
- long-range surveillance with air-to-air rockets in war described as “beyond physical range”.
Thus, fighters such as the F-35 have traded off flexibility to convey secrecy, and have long-range air-to-air weapons to help BVR contacts.
The Rafale is not a cunning system and, while in many ways technologically advanced, it is not as BVR ready as Chinese-designed planes and air-to-air weapons. Furthermore, even the AMRAAM seems to fall short of the mark in any competition, meaning that the AMRAAM will need to be replaced with a longer-range and faster air-to-air missile.
Russia also has a BVR air-to-air missile, the R-77 which is being upgraded. A new version, R-77M, designed for Russia’s new Su-57 fighter, has a dual pulse motor ( like China’s PL-15 ) and AESA radar. Quite possibly it incorporates Chinese technology. Russia also appears to have a scramjet-powered version of the R-77. Nothing is known of the range of either missile, although the earlier R-77 was inferior in range to AMRAAM.
What happened to India in the latest firefight is bad news for NATO, which appears to be falling behind technologically – and it is a warning to the United States to speed up development of an AMRAAM replacement.
While the US has a new replacement for AMRAAM, designated as the AIM-260 JATM ( joint advanced tactical missile ), as of now it is in low-rate production and has not achieved initial operational capability. Supposedly, it has a range of 200 km ( 124 miles ), putting it at the low end compared to the PL-15.
There is still a lot more to be learned about the latest encounter between the Pakistani and Indian air forces. There may be more bad news.