France confirms shooting down of Indian Rafale and failure of SPECTRA: What future for French air superiority?

[AeronautIR]

My humble opinion, but do proceed of course as you see fit. Your insights on this forum are highly valued and are evidently professional in nature. There may actually be no need for you to respond to the pseudo-intellectual dramas of certain forum amateurs.

Would save you from excessive heavy sighs.

Thank you and I agree with you... I used to engage with everyone on this forum for intellectual discourse on modern airpower, but now I only reply if someone asks me a question.

 

[Beijingwalker]

China Reveals How Pakistani J-10CEs Shot Down Rafale, MiG-29, Su-30MKI Without Using AEW&C System​

July 25, 2026

Until now, the prevailing theory was that the reason for the success of the Pakistan Air Force was a combination of three Chinese components: the ZDK-03 AEW&C aircraft, the J-10CE fighter and the PL-15 long-range air-to-air missile, but new details from China contradict this​

Despite the fact that the largest battle in modern history between Indian and Pakistani air force fighters took place more than a year ago, on the night of May 7, 2025, its details are being revealed extremely slowly.

In particular, official confirmation that the Chinese J-10 fighter won its first combat victories appeared only after six months, and now, more than fourteen months later, it has been revealed how it was used. This was done by the Chinese central television channel CCTV, which interviewed academician Ben De, the developer of radar targeting systems and stations, including the KLJ-7A for the J-10, the content of which is cited by Sohu.

In particular, this interview notes that in total, Pakistani J-10CEs shot down six Indian Air Force aircraft, including three Rafales. There were no losses among the J-10CEs.

J-10CE multirole combat aircraft of Pakistan Air Force

On the part of Defense Express, we note that Pakistan initially officially announced the shooting down of two Rafales and one MiG-29 and Su-30MKI, as well as one UAV. But later the "score" in this night battle began to increase in Islamabad and now they declare two more Rafale and one Mirage 2000. At the same time, India does not confirm these losses, but it is known for certain and independently confirmed that one Rafale with the number BS-001 was lost.

Since then, it is believed that the key to the achievements gained by the Pakistani Air Force is the better organization of air combat and the advantage in long-range radar detection aircraft – 8 Swedish Saab 2000 Erieye and 4 more Chinese ZDK-03 (Y-8) in Pakistan, against 3 Indian EMB-145AEW Netra and three russian-Israeli A-50EI in India.

At the same time, it was the combination of three Chinese components: the ZDK-03 AEW&C aircraft, the J-10CE fighter jet and the PL-15 long-range air-to-air missile, that was considered the main "formula for success" of the Pakistan Air Force. In particular, it is believed that the J-10CE could not turn on the on-board radar and launch the PL-15 missile after targeting from the ZDK-03 AEW&C aircraft, which also controlled the air-to-air missiles from a safe distance.

At the same time, Chinese academic Ben De stated that the J-10CE fighters used their own KLJ-7A airborne radars when hunting Indian aircraft.

Pakistani fighter pilots independently searched, detected, and then captured and attacked targets at a range of 200 km. All this happened without activating the radar radiation and missile threat systems on the Indian Air Force aircraft.

This was achieved due to the fact that the KLJ-7A is based on GaN technology, which allows reducing the output power without losing the detection range, as well as special algorithms for the radar. In particular, the KLJ-7A uses a constant change in frequencies in a wide range, pulse compression, as well as masking of signal shapes as "noise".

J-10CE multirole combat aircraft of Pakistan Air Force

Due to this, as stated in China, not only the russian warning systems on the MiG-29 and Su-30MKI aircraft became helpless, but also the well-known Spectra system by Thales, which is installed on the Rafale. To this we can only add that any statements from China must be passed through a certain filter and not be considered as the ultimate truth.

As Defense Express reported, U.S. warned russia could field 1,000 hypersonic missiles by 2035, China up to 4,000

China Reveals How Pakistani J-10CEs Shot Down Rafale, MiG-29, Su-30MKI Without Using AEW&C System | Defense Express

Until now, the prevailing theory was that the reason for the success of the Pakistan Air Force was a combination of three Chinese components: the ZDK-03 AEW&C aircraft, the J-10CE fighter and the PL-15 long-range air-to-air missile, but new details from China contradict this

en.defence-ua.com

 

[Luciferdd]

Different types/models of radar available for J10CE,and their prices