At least three French-made Rafale jets were downed by Pakistani missiles launched from air and ground across Kashmir frontier, says Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif. Photo: public domain

India has lost its top fighter jet, the Rafale EH. Three Rafale jets were shot down. In addition, at least one Sukhoi and one MIG plus a large Israel reconnaissance drone were destroyed by Pakistan’s air force.

Until the latest air combat, India had acquired 34 Rafale jet fighters. These are multimission platforms suitable for all combat aviation missions: air superiority and air defense, close air support, in-depth strikes, reconnaissance, anti-ship strikes and nuclear deterrence.

In the latest confrontation, which apparently lasted around an hour, the Rafales were carrying SCALP cruise missiles, which in the UK are known as Storm Shadow. These missiles have been used extensively in Ukraine.

The Rafales also had MICA (missile d’interception, de combat et d’auto-défense) air-to-air missiles. At least one of these missiles was found near the crash site of the first Rafale that was downed. That Rafale had a tail designation of BS-001, meaning it was the first Rafale delivered to the Indian air force. BS means single seat.

BS-001 tail of the first downed Rafale

The combat that took place was at a distance, not a classical 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.

Chinese image of the launch of a PL-15

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 export model. The PL-15 is pretty fast. Once launched, its speed is around Mach-5 (6,173 kph or 3,836 mph).

By way of contrast, the French MICA air to air missile has a significantly shorter range, around 60 to 80 km (37 to 50 miles). Thus the Chinese PL-15 as a stand-off weapon has a significant advantage. That seems to have paid off in the recent encounter.

Two versions of French MICA air to air missile

The US Air Force has put most of its bets on two capabilities:

  • stealth for platforms such as the F-22 and F-35, and
  • long-range interdiction with air-to-air missiles in warfare described as “beyond visual range.”

Consequently, fighters such as the F-35 have traded off maneuverability to emphasize stealth, and have long-range air-to-air missiles to support BVR encounters.

The Rafale is not a stealth platform and, while in many ways technologically advanced, it is not as BVR capable as Chinese-designed jets and air-to-air missiles. 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.

Stephen Bryen is a special correspondent to Asia Times and former US deputy undersecretary of defense for policy. This article, which originally appeared on his Substack newsletter Weapons and Strategy, is republished with permission.

Join the Conversation

48 Comments

  1. Didn’t realize the pakastanis could prevail over india in air combat. I always thought india had a formidable military force. Guess I was wrong. Hope it doesn’t go nuclear as a lot of both populations are just poor people just trying to get by.

  2. Obviously unverified propaganda! Indian Rafale jets come with serial number RB001 to RB036 after the initials of our then Airforce Chief Rakesh Bhiduri!

  3. Chinese ching chon chili chicken kumfu panda wrote this article with out validation. Seems like a allahu akbar pakistans popet

    1. Camel piss is superior to cow dung, ask the 10 million Indians whose lives depend on the Arabs whose toilets are clean because of the Indian servants.

  6. Dayum Bryen I didn’t knew you guys where this much broke?
    I guess China really is making people’s lives easy by giving beggars some pennies, Also you forgot how Chinese PL 15 missile was able to shoot down Santa’s Sleigh and Saturn’s Rings! Morons..

    1. Just ask your pilots, if they are still intact. 😉 Mess with China and it will supply even more goodies to Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. Time for South Asia nations to knock India down a peg or two.

      1. Gandu Alla ki terrorist. Tumare allaha ki gand me humare shudra ki lauda. B@sta₹d Allah chuuta. Mohemad ki ammiki visda

  8. Hey, Mr. Bryen! Why are you spreading Pakistani propaganda news? You even don’t know that India received 36 Rafales not 34! With this limited knowledge you are writing articles! Could Pakistan show any proof against their claim? No. Any radar lock image, radar signature? Any such technical proof? No. Only proof- social media!!! Even if we believe genuine images in the social media there is only one. What happened to the rest? Vapourised in air? It looks like a paid article… China?

  9. Chinese PL-15 didn’t even fire and was taken down! Not 1 but 3 missiles; looks like paper dragon. Similarly their reverse engineered HQ-9 air defence…. No match for Brahmos speed, precision and explosive impact.

    Probably Chinese arming India’s neighbours could trigger sales of Indian Brahmos to Taiwan. If this happens then Taiwan is 1000% independent country!

    China must not pretend to be a honest, peace loving and helpful country to all its smaller neighbours- must walk the talk!

  11. This is fake news spreaded by Pakistan and this photos are feom 2018 and some of them are edited non Of Indian Fighters are taken down instead Pakistan fighter were shot down. Why you Stephen Bryn posting propaganda arricle shame on you why don’t do fact check , fooled by pakistan media

  15. If Stephen Bryen thinks this Chinese missile is good, it must be good. So congrats to the Chinese!

  16. There will be no major war, relax. The sponors of the terrorist attack are foreigners. Pakistan and India I hope both understand that. The biggest sponsors of “Islamic” terrorism are Western intelligence agencies hands down.

  17. Pakistan seems all to reminiscent to Egypt during the early days of the 6 Day War with very over enthusiastic claims and in this instance (as opposed to last flare up) no mention of the Indian pilots and if any ejected safely? That omission, so far, speaks volumes

  18. J-10 is produced in China only. And the picture of PL-15 is wrong. PL-15 is a dual-pulse solid rocket propelled missile. The depicted is a rocket-ramjet propelled missile, akin to MBDA Metoer. India bought Metoer but it is unsure whether it was used in this particular air combat. If so, it didn’t score anything since there is no PAF loss reported.

  20. So the real loser of the India Pakistan war is western weapons technology. Chinese tech has comprehensively beaten tech that is 3 times more expensive. The poor Indians have to open defecate like untouchable and work the land to scrap enough money so their govt can buy super expensive and super ineffective weapons system. The US harry a Truman can’t handle a bunch of yemens without losing expensive kit. We now have clear evidence of a decline in the west. Every nation in the west. Anyone that bought weapons from the USA or France et al. It’s crap

    1. Bro that image is fake.its confirmed that the image is edited.if you compare it with the orginal tail of rafael bs001 you could find many differences.

    2. The Indian pilots might have attempted to open defecate in their anti-G, compression flight suits. Unable to complete the intended operation, they had to abort the manoeuvre, which led to loss of control and total disaster.

      1. Usually open defecation is a choice. When the PL15 was heading towards them, I think the open defecation was involuntary. Imagine trying to eject in those conditions. Then landing in a field of more open defecation.

        1. Why are you guys so interested in defecation? You bring it up in almost every thread. To me, it seems a little unnatural in adults.

          1. Causes is funny. It will always be funny until china sells them a billion toilets.

    3. This is fake news bro this asia times channel is spreading propaganda by pakistan you already know this us chinese media. India didn’t loose Pakistan lost this . Instead 2 Pakistan Chinese made fighter were downed and there is ceasefire agreement now

      2. Actually India lost this confrontation, it did not achieve any goal, its prestige regionally as well as on world stage wil be a bit scratched. India will of course recover but there are now open doors for Pakistan to ascend much more in regional power status, it is impressive how well they were prepared and ready to face much larger and reacher opponent. India big non military weakness is bad leadership, Modi is not good for India long term at all.