WATCHED by the entire world with bated breath but deep interest, the May 2025 Pakistan-India encounter propelled military strategies into a new era showcasing significant advancements in air warfare.
Bated breath because one misstep between the nuclear weapons-equipped adversaries could have endangered the whole world.
Deep interest because this was the first encounter between western and Chinese weapon systems in the 21st Century.
Reminiscent of deeply engrossing video games—the intense four-day duel was in real time with actual weapons and real lives at stake.
This short but intense encounter will continue to be discussed in think tanks, war colleges, foundations and study groups to comprehend, analyse, dissect and draw their own conclusions based on the satellite pictures, data reports and briefings by operational commanders to deal with this new phenomenon.
Pakistan employed a networked warfare kill chain integrating long-range missiles, airborne radar systems and instantaneous sensor fusion to maximize combat effectiveness.
Secure data links allowed instant missile guidance updates, ensuring precision strikes.
Long-Range Missile Engagement employed PL-15E air-to-air missiles—which outranged most Indian missiles—were fired from within Pakistani airspace, denying Indian pilots early warning.
Pakistan disrupted Indian radar systems, limiting their ability to detect incoming threats, while electronic countermeasures reduced the effectiveness of Indian missile guidance.
The result was for the world to see despite India’s persistent denial and plethora of lies.
Pakistan’s air supremacy didn’t occur overnight because each Air Chief has endeavoured to hone the fighting skills of PAF through personal example, realistic training and developing strategies to meet new challenges.
Indian Air Force possesses state-of-the-art weapon systems, realistic simulators, and it trains hard both at home and abroad, yet it got a surprise in Operation Swift Retort in 2019.
Its defence planners must have pondered over how the PAF got the better of them and changed their gameplan, which was obvious from their reliance on standoff weapons and avoiding close combat.
Despite their massive force and use of high-tech platforms, still they were at the receiving end of PAF’s kill chain.
The apparent miracle of May 7-10, 2025 was a response which the agile air combatants train for day and night so that when their mettle is tested, they uphold PAF’s raison d’être “Second to None” ordained by the Quaid.
What makes them stand out above their adversaries is their ever willingness to make the supreme sacrifice of their lives.
During the 1965 and 1971 Pak-India Wars, Squadron Leaders Sarfaraz Rafiqi, Alauddin Ahmed, Flight Lieutenant Yunus Hussain, Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas and scores of others including brave Christian officers like Wing Commander Marvin Lesley Middlecoat, Peter Christy and numerous others embraced martyrdom in the defence of Pakistan.
In this age of social media, the adversary and the Occident may be amazed at the visuals of the three pilots who wrote farewell letters to their families before departing for a high-risk mission on May 10, 2025 but this is not a new phenomenon.
The leader of the daring Pathankot Strike on 6th September 1965, then Squadron Leader Sajad Haider of the PAF—stated later in my TV show that before departing for the mission, he had asked his pilots to dab eau-de-cologne on their flying suits so that they smell nice when they reach paradise.
This is not the stuff of fairytales but the sacred mission of the PAF, to guard the aerial frontiers of Pakistan and pour its sweat and blood into the force to meet each trial and tribulation boldly and courageously.
A lot is being said about the contribution of China but younger generations must know that after the 1965 Pakistan-India Wars, the US embargoed the supply of weapons.
France was willing to sell arms to Pakistan but at exorbitant prices.
China, which was still an underdeveloped state, came forward and offered its rudimentary F-6 (MiG-19) fighter aircraft, which the PAF technicians turned into a lethal fighting machine—serving Pakistan for five decades.
For a quarter century, China was treated as a pariah state and denied access to western technology.
Pakistan was its only window in that era of darkness and the Chinese founding fathers still recall how Islamabad not only gave Beijing access to western know-how but facilitated the thaw in Sino-US ties, paving the way for China to gain its rightful place in the comity of nations.
The West was in denial of China’s technological prowess including outer space, defence and healthcare, which is no longer copied or borrowed but based on its own research and modernisation surpassing the West’s quests.
The Chinese J-10C fighter jet, acquired by Pakistan after the Indians opted for the much-touted French Rafales, was reportedly “denied entry” into the “Paris Air Show in 2009”.
However, now in a “remarkable turn of events”, the J-10C has “secured a spot” at the “2025 Paris Air Show”, marking a “significant shift” in international aerospace dynamics.
It is being positioned as a “cost-effective alternative” to Western fighter jets, making it an attractive option for nations seeking “advanced capabilities” without premium price tags.
There is growing demand for Chinese weapons but the mastery of the weapon systems and integration in the kill chain was purely Pakistan’s innovation.
As for Pakistan’s close ties with China, they are not transitional, suffice it here to quote renowned American political scientist and an expert on South Asian security affairs, particularly Pakistan, India and China—Stephen P.Cohen—who once asked during a seminar in the USA about which two countries are the closest to each other, he mentioned Pakistan and China.
The audience was expecting him to say Israel and the USA but Cohen went on to elaborate and also mentioned some of the instances mentioned by this scribe.
—The writer, Retired Group Captain of PAF, is author of several books on China. (sultanm.hali@gmail.com)
