The J-10CP has proven its worth! Pakistan shot down six Indian military aircraft. How did the Chinese-exported HQ-9BE and PL-15E achieve this?

 Airshow 100 times is not as effective as one real combat! Chinese manufacturing is formidable! Pakistan is formidable! Click the image below to purchase the same J-10C alloy model.

Yesterday, in our article “Where Does the J-10C Win? Pakistani Defense Minister Confirms: J-10CP Successfully Deterred the ‘Rafale’ in the Indo-Pak Air Battle, and India’s Three Reasons for Rebuttal!” we just ridiculed the Indian Defense Research Web (IDRW) for its exaggerated praise of the “Rafale” fighter jet. Today, the Indian Air Force has launched an attack! The Bilal Mosque in Kashmir, which was attacked, is according to Xinhua News Agency, at around 5:00 a.m. on May 7th, the Indian Air Force launched a large-scale missile attack on several locations in the Pakistan-controlled Kashmir region and Punjab Province. It is reported that the Indian military used air-to-ground missiles, targeting locations including the Subhan Mosque in Bahawalpur, Punjab Province, and Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, causing casualties among Pakistani civilians. As soon as the air-to-ground strike ended, the Indian domestic media was ecstatic, claiming that Pakistan had finally felt the might of the Indian Air Force. However, this celebration didn’t last for even two hours before turning into wailing.

The Indian Air Force was utterly defeated in this cross-border attack on Pakistan: it was so bad that even Iwan, the big guy, couldn’t believe it at first—how could it be such a one-sided defeat? It was so bad that Modi and Macron would have to cry together in the restroom, and Dassault might be the biggest loser, while Sukhoi would be secretly gloating on the side... In short, India’s loss this time was even worse than the “February 27th” air battle in 2019. How to put it, they intended to make a big move, but ended up making a big mess.

Let’s quickly tally up the losses of the Indian Air Force this time. In fact, right after the “May 7th” air battle, Pakistan’s reported results were soaring, from three fighter jets to six, and then to eight... The number of reported results was so exaggerated that Iwan initially took it as a grand headquarters report. Later, it turned out that although Pakistan’s reported results were somewhat exaggerated, for example, they might have counted the results of different air force units or different fighter jets attacking a single target as two separate results, the actual losses on the ground in India were surprisingly close to what Pakistan had reported! According to the confirmed information from Indian media or the video footage shot by locals, the Indian Air Force lost at least three or four fighter jets this time.

The first fighter jet wreckage location is said to be in Wuyun, Pulwama, in Indian-controlled Kashmir. The wreckage was completely shattered, with only the black radar dome, the suspected aerial refueling tube, and a smashed turbofan engine remaining.

This turbofan engine, after analysis, is believed to be the Snecma M53-2 type used by the Mirage-2000TH fighter jet. The black aerial refueling tube is also considered a characteristic of the Mirage-2000.

However, the black radar dome doesn’t match the upgraded Mirage-2000, which now uses a gray radar dome instead of the previous black graphite-based material.

On the contrary, the upgraded Jaguar attack aircraft uses a black, smaller-diameter radar dome. Therefore, the wreckage in Pulwama Wuyun is believed to be a French-made fighter jet of the Indian Air Force, either a Mirage-2000 or a Jaguar. If it’s a Mirage-2000, it might have been carrying AASM precision-guided bombs or SPICE bombs. If it’s a Jaguar, it might have been carrying Israeli-made “Pipistrelle” air-to-ground missiles. In any case, the crashed aircraft in Pulwama Wuyun is definitely a French-made fighter jet of the Indian Air Force.

The second fighter jet wreckage location is the most valuable and exciting for me. The wreckage site is near Bhisiana Air Force Base in Punjab, India. The video is noisy, but some experts have identified a voice in Punjabi saying, “Take the pilot away.” Undoubtedly, this is an Indian fighter jet. The wreckage is even more shattered, but its launcher and the missile on it have revealed the identity of the fighter jet.

After analysis by experts, the launcher’s shape is identical to the LM3266 type used by the Rafale fighter jet, with the same detailed features. The LM3266 launcher is exclusive to the Rafale and has not been found on the Mirage-2000TH or any other French fighter jets. The launcher still had a broken air-to-air missile on it, which, with its rectangular wings and butterfly-shaped tail fins, is undoubtedly a French-made “Mica” air-to-air missile.

This not only proves that the Rafale fighter jet did participate in the air battle against Pakistan on the morning of May 7th but also matches the wreckage near Bhisiana Air Force Base. Based on these remains, we can basically conclude that at least one Rafale fighter jet of the Indian Air Force was shot down and completely destroyed during the air offensive against Pakistan on the morning of May 7th.

In addition, at the same time, near Srinagar, a local person shot a video of another twisted wreckage on the ground. The surface of the wreckage is very smooth, with refueling and inspection ports. It is still unclear whether it is a Rafale or a Mirage-2000, and there is still some debate.

The third crash site was revealed by Indian media itself, with an unspecified location, but it is clear that the aircraft crashed in a grove. The twin vertical tail features of the fighter jet are very obvious. The Pakistani Air Force does not have this type of aircraft. Only the MiG-29UPG and Su-30MKI of the Indian Air Force have twin vertical tail features. Therefore, it can be concluded that the third wreckage is still an Indian Air Force fighter jet, whether it is a Su-30MKI or a MiG-29UPG.

In addition to these three confirmed wreckage sites, by the time I finished writing, a fourth wreckage appeared on the Internet, showing an Indian aircraft crashed in a field, with a fire truck parked nearby. It is unclear whether this is one of the previous three wreckage sites or a new one. However, even so, the Pakistani Air Force shot down at least three Indian fighter jets in the air battle on the morning of May 7th.

How were they shot down? The Pakistani Air Force has made it very clear that the HQ-9BE surface-to-air missiles and the PL-15E medium-range air-to-air missiles played a significant role.

Let’s look at where the crashed Indian military aircraft are located. Pulwama, Pampore, and Wuyan are in Indian-controlled Kashmir, about 81 kilometers from the nearest India-Pakistan ceasefire line. As we estimated in our previous article, this place is near Srinagar. It seems that the Indian Air Force did try to launch stand-off missiles to attack Pakistan from the Srinagar plain between the Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Mountains, and it seems that they had already succeeded in one wave of attacks. However, the Pakistani Air Force was obviously more skillful and used some long-range weapons to shoot down an Indian fighter jet in Wuyan. Bhisiana Air Force Base is in the central and southern part of Punjab.

The base, together with Ambala Air Force Base in Haryana, seems to form the home base and forward base of the Indian Air Force’s No. 17 Squadron. The base is as far as 71 kilometers from the India-Pakistan border. The Rafale fighter jet was shot down 20 kilometers northeast of the base. It appears that the Indian Air Force used the Rafale fighter jet to attack targets around Lahore and Rawalpindi and then planned to return to Bhisiana Air Force Base when it was suddenly ambushed by the Pakistani military. As for the third crashed MiG-29 or Su-30MKI fighter jet, it is still unclear where it crashed.

In fact, we don’t need to look at how the Pakistani military reports it or how India tries to make up for it. Just based on the locations of these two French-made fighter jets being shot down, we can roughly piece together the whole story. This air battle was indeed of high value, and the firing distance was likely extremely long. First of all, the shot-down Rafale fighter jet was almost approaching Bhisiana Air Force Base when it was shot down. This indicates that the Rafale was completely unprepared when attacked. The pilot might have been in a relaxed state, almost ready to return, when the attack occurred. This proves two points:

First, if the Indian Air Force’s radar system was still working, then it proves that the Pakistani military’s firing distance was extremely far, so far that the Indian Air Force directly judged that the Pakistani military posed no threat. Second, if there was a problem with the Indian Air Force’s radar system, then it proves that the Pakistani military’s tactics were more complex. It might have been an ambush using electronic warfare aircraft to blind the Indian radar first, and then fighter jets or surface-to-air missile systems moved forward to attack the Rafale fighter jet