The recent brahmos incident has shown that war between Pakistan and india can happen anytime. Rouge elements for now only launched a single brahmos without a warhead but in the future what if they launch one with a warhead or launch many?
It went from india claiming of a surgical strike in 2016 to bombing our trees in 2019 and now brahmos being fired at us.
I’m pretty sure Pakistani establishment knows a war is around the corner because india has too deeply been infiltrated by extremists elements.
What does this have to do with Sheikh Rasheed’s J-20 statement?
I already mentioned a list of points which would be possible factors why PAF might acquire J-20 and that too sooner then we expect:
I think Pakistan will get J-20 before the end of this decade.
My reasons for this are:
- Sheikh Rasheed would have never made such statement if negotiations on J-20 never happened
- J-20 if procured would be more of a stop gap 5th Gen fighter till Azm/TFX becomes a reality
- india is buying many new fighter jets soon I think 114 more and they will be twin engine either F-18 or Rafales
- PAF needs a heavy weight fighter since it doesn’t have any and J-20 will get it the necessary experience before Azm/TFX
- If PAF acquires a 5th Gen fighter jet, it will take india at least till 2035 to get a 5th Gen fighter not matter what
- PAF loves to keep an edge over iaf and when india procures it’s 114 rafales or f-18’s, PAF will lose the edge it has over iaf and to balance it and keep the edge we can very well go for J-20
- Senior members on this forum have said procurements for this decade will shape our strategy and they’ve hinted that response to india was in the form of multiple platforms including multiple fighter jets
- Russia being so heavily sanctioned has basically divided the world and sent it into Cold War era again. Pakistan choose it side despite all the talks about neutrality. Pakistan will be heavily armed by China
- Chinese counter to india is Pakistan and fro Pakistan to be able to take on india it need a cutting edge tech
- Balakot and these Indian false flags have changed the whole dynamics of the region. What’s the guarantee a full scale war won’t happen this year or 2024 elections or 2027 or 2029?
IMO, PAF will get J-20’s before 2030 probably even closer to 2026 or even 2024 ish.
Now add the brahmos incident into all this.
If PAF was just thinking about J-20 before then brahmos incident would be another factor to make PAF turn this possibility into a reality.
Since war can be a very real reality very soon PAF would want something that would deter Indians from it.
Now what would deter the enemy more then us having 5th Gen fighters and them stuck with 4.5 gen ones?
We don’t know which rouge element will fire what at us next or what Indians might do for political point scoring. The best way to ensure stability in the region now for Pakistan is to acquire something like J-20 which will give a clear edge to Pakistan. This will be one of our biggest deterrents against Indian politicians trying stuff for point scoring or rouge elects trying to start a war.
If PAF acquires J-20 it can ensure Pakistans and the regions stability and IF a war is started it will ensure a clear edge for Pakistan till at least 2035.
I’m no expert and I might be giving too much value to this brahmos incident however I think this brahmos incident has rang alarm bells in Pakistan and raised serious concerns of a war being possibly started by rouge elements. For this reason the best deterrent and best way to ensure our survival is by being ahead of the enemy and J-20 will ensure our edge.
After all the Holy Quran gives us a clear strategy in this regard:
“Prepare against them what you ˹believers˺ can of ˹military˺ power and cavalry to deter Allah’s enemies and your enemies as well as other enemies unknown to you but known to Allah. Whatever you spend in the cause of Allah will be paid to you in full and you will not be wronged.” - Quran (8:60)