This is a bad joke right? The carrier does not have enough assets to even defend itself. The MIG-29 availability is dire and according to reports has masssive radar malfunction issues.
Tahe moment even one of those rust buckets takes off it will be PL-15 and shark food....
It is a prestige piece. Something you dont take out because of actual value but perceived value because the impact on Morale is immense.
You dont focus on the Rafale's purely because they are the greatest threat on the battlefield but also because they hold a morale loss value.
You dont focus on taking out the S-400 and keep repeating the claim(even if your original goal of
suppression for supporting an operation was met regardless) because it sows fear, uncertainty and doubt during the fog of war.
The result of your targeting these high value assets was the sheepish IAF Air Marshall had to make all those claims using S-400(because there is no proof of them being lost). Since he cannot claims his prized Rafales did anything after their wreckage was plastered all over social media.
Because even if the IAF didnt lose a S-400 radar or otherwise - and lets say most of the IAF knows about it - there will be elements in IA And IN that talk about it and you have done the job of sowing consternation the next time they face you.
When you pinged an Indian Sub from the rear with one your subs, you didnt just have them execute a scare maneuver - you told everyone on that sub that for all intents and purposes they were dead for the past however long minutes.
That by the time they could potentially react and do anything - get a torpedo into a tube even or flood those tubes your torpedo will be about to impact them and send them all to certain deaths.
That is the power of fear.
Now, on the flipside the Indians managed to sow fear into the civilian population of many of your areas because their drones hit random places. Women were scared, children were scared especially in the urban areas which are considered safe like Lahore.
However, in places like ISB or Karachi where Suicide attacks or bombs are common there were people who came out and were actually enjoying cups of tea because they have enough trauma and experience of death that they simply found the Indian efforts an evening show.
Not saying that was the right response but that is essentially what is "Battle hardening". In other words a Pakistani trooper having gone through hell against TTP, comrades shot and killed - isolated in an ambush, hungry and thirsty but having to hold it down to avoid being spotted by a sniper - that person will quietly sit in their foxhole in the east and do their job until their fate while a non-hardened Indian counterpart will panic, run , abandon posts and complain of being hungry.
Which is why ironically, the constant flare ups along the LoC are actually good for India along with tough deployments compared to the rather calm environment they face today.
