The 5th generation stealth fighter FC-31 Gyrfalcon, designed by China's Shenyang, could soon fly under a green and white roundel. This is the astonishing information that Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu, Chief of Staff of the Pakistani Air Force, gave this January 2, during a ceremony for the delivery of a new batch of Chinese single-engine J-10C fighters.
In this section:
If New Delhi must, in its defense effort, scale and equip itself to respond simultaneously to the Pakistani and Chinese threat, Islamabad, for its part, only has eyes for its historic adversary, the India. However, the two countries do not compete in the same category.
With a population of 1,4 billion inhabitants, and a GDP of $3 billion, India is more than 400 times more populated, and nine times richer than its neighbor. Despite this considerable socio-economic gradient, the Pakistani armies are far from pale in comparison to India, quite the contrary, especially since the country has been able to rely, for around thirty years, on its partner Chinese.
The Pakistani Air Force today, a major adversary for the Indian Air Force
Thus, the Pakistani land armies today field 3 combat tanks, including 500 1rd generation T-200UD, Al Khalid and VT-4, 650 M109 self-propelled guns and HS-15, as well as more than 650 122 and 300 mm multiple rocket launchers, representing between 60 and 75% of the format of the Indian land forces.
La Pakistan Navy, she, lines up 5 Agosta submarines which will soon be replaced by 8 Chinese Type 039A, 9 frigates including 4 Type 054A/P, 4 corvettes soon reinforced by the 4 Turkish Ada and 2 new OPV 2600 from the Dutch Damen). Largely inferior to the Indian Navy, it is however tending to catch up, especially as it must protect a much smaller naval area.
The Pakistani Air Force has probably been the best off in recent decades. The Pakistani fighter fleet consists, in fact, of more than 150 Sino-Pakistani JF-17, 36 Chinese J-10Cs, around twenty of which have already been delivered, 75 F-16s, 80 Mirage IIIs and 90 Mirage Vs, as well as around fifty J-7s, an advanced Chinese version of the Mig-21. They field a total of almost 500 fighters, supported by 4 Il-78 tanker aircraft, 7 ZDK-03 and Erieye Awacs, and 3 Falcon DA-20 electronic warfare aircraft.
Facing it, the Indian Air Force is fielding “only” 650 fighters including 260 Su-30MKI, 36 Rafale, but also 75 Mig-29s and around forty MIG-21s, supported by 6 Il-78 tankers, 5 Awacs A-50 and Embraer R-99, as well as 5 Gulfstream III and Global 5000 electronic listening devices.
The Sino-Pakistani alliance against India
So, if the Indian Air Force is obviously better off than its Pakistani counterpart, with 150 additional fighters, and especially heavier aircraft, such as the Su-30MKI and the Rafale, the gap in power between these two armies is very far from matching the gap in population, and even less on that between the GDP of the two countries.
Above all, As stated in the introduction, New Delhi must be able to maintain a dissuasive defensive posture against Islamabad and its 500 fighters, but also against Beijing and the thousand modern fighters of the Chinese air force (and growing) or, worse still, against these two adversaries, also allies, simultaneously.
Fact, the acquisition by the Pakistani Air Force of 36 J-10CsJust two years ago, this could have worried Indian strategists. The announced arrival of the Chinese single-engine fighter, heavier than the JF-17, and much more modern than the Pakistani F-16 and Mirage, led to a more than significant strengthening of Islamabad's air force.
Pakistan Air Force may soon acquire FC-31 Gyrfalcon stealth fighter from China's Shenyang
What can we say, then, when the Chief of Staff of the Pakistani Air Force, Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu, announced on January 2 that they would soon receive, the Chinese 5th generation stealth fighter Shenyang FC-31 Gyrfalcon, a device likely to give them a significant operational advantage against the majority of Indian fighters, apart, probably, from the new ones. Rafale ?
There are 75% of this article left to read, Subscribe to access it!
The Classic subscriptions provide access to
articles in their full version, and without advertising,
from €1,99. Subscriptions Premium also allow access to archives (articles over two years old)
It’s becoming more and more complicated for the Indians, indeed. Do you think this could motivate them to buy more Rafale, since as you say it is the only plane they have with which they are sure to have an advantage over the Pakistanis and Chinese?
This is not excluded, particularly with regard to the MMRCA-2 contract.