Post Kashmir developments and assessments

HQ-9BE with 265 km max range is the best Chinese SAM that a nation can currently buy.

Pakistan bought several batteries of HQ9BE specifically to neutralize the Indian Brahmos threat. PAF even bought the BMD specific newer JSG 400 FCR for its HQ-9BE.

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HQ9BE was deployed at Nur Khan AFB when it was struck. Despite having a robust networked ADS with Chinese origin HQ9P, HQ9BE, FD2000, HQ 16 and HQ16FE backed up by various YLC series radars, almost all PAF airbases were hit by IAF.

There were 2-3 Brahmos hits at Nur Khan airbase in Chaklala, Rawalpindi which happens to be the seat of power in Pakistan. It's one of the most heavily defended cities in Pakistan.

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Despite using just 15 Brahmos A, Pakistan's Chinese origin sam systems got swamped and saturated by these. Just some days back, AVM DG Air Aurangzeb had claimed with a straight face that Pakistan air defence can shoot down hypersonic missiles.
 
But Reuters interviews with two Indian officials and three of their Pakistani counterparts found that the performance of the Rafale wasn't the key problem: Central to its downing was an Indian intelligence failure concerning the range of the China-made PL-15 missile fired by the J-10 fighter. China and Pakistan are the only countries to operate both J-10s, known as Vigorous Dragons, and PL-15s.


The faulty intelligence gave the Rafale pilots a false sense of confidence they were out of Pakistani firing distance, which they believed was only around 150 km, the Indian officials said, referring to the widely cited range of PL-15's export variant.


"We ambushed them," the PAF official said, adding that Islamabad conducted an electronic warfare assault on Delhi's systems in an attempt to confuse Indian pilots. Indian officials dispute the effectiveness of those efforts.


"The Indians were not expecting to be shot at," said Justin Bronk, air warfare expert at London's Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think-tank. "And the PL-15 is clearly very capable at long range."
Click to expand...
https://www.reuters.com/business/ae...g-edge-fighter-using-chinese-gear-2025-08-02/
 

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