​​India Loses Top Fighter Jet Bad News For Its Future Air Combat

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.

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.

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.

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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.

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