Exclusive: PAF Airchief Visits Rafale & M2k Units

[mingle]

Strongly hope it's about selling JF17 Blk3s.

Which plane Qatar going to replace?? Plus they buying whole world of new jetts F15, EF, Rafale for tiny country it's an over kill.

 

[kursed]

There is no Arab country lining up to buy the JF-17s, they have long-standing ties with French, British and American aerospace companies reaching over decades. None of them are going to sacrifice that over a new bird backed by China and Pakistan because buying a fighter aircraft is pretty much a political decision, for the most part.

And if they 'really' have to appease the Chinese, why not then the J10-CE? And why JF-17? It does not meet basic logic.

 

[nahtanbob]

mirage2000 time is gone..unless we are given a lemon deal like in late 1990s..
100s of them for throwaway prices with the freedom to do our own avionics from third party..not completely impossible but i doubt France will do this, as it will irritate India

in that case PAF might opt for them to replace the mirage3/5

less than 600 Mirage-2000 were made

 

[NA71]

And even now, F-16 is an amazing plane. F-16A MLU was more than a match for Su-30MKI decked with most modern avionics.

The F-16V is equipped with F-35 AESA radar. So it will still compete with new generation planes and in skilled hands, will beat the hell out of them.

So please dont be disrespectful to F-16.

No sir I just considering how much time we have wasted in this hope of getting new ones or V upgrade? We are still on that path whereas our buying power depleted heavily.

B3 is still 2 yrs from operational flying... Where as the hostile environment demands immediate measures.

 

[Muhammad Omar]

PAF should've look forward to buy EFT to counter Rafales

 

[Shabi1]

No sir I just considering how much time we have wasted in this hope of getting new ones or V upgrade? We are still on that path whereas our buying power depleted heavily.

B3 is still 2 yrs from operational flying... Where as the hostile environment demands immediate measures.

Just buying a on paper superior jet is not the answer, there are alot of factors involved to getting dominance in time of war.

PAF uses the USAF doctrine of multiple platforms working in sync to overwhelm a adversary. Yes they have the best technology but even if they ever face superior foes they can still hold their ground by working together. Its not just a single platform working alone and it is not dependent on hardware alone, this requires alot of training and air tactics planning. InAF is still stuck on Russian introduced philosophy of superior units working on their own and this hasnt played out well and they still havnt learned as they are still buying a mismatched mix. Israel was able to outdo much larger well equipped Arab forces because their units were not in sync.

I have a feeling PAF is going to do with the F-16 what it did with the Mirage. We will be buying them used whenever possible, build up our maintenance infrastructure even further and maybe use them even after the US has retired all its units (same as F-4 and F-5 operators are doing on their own). The Turks are working on their own avionics package upgrades so we can get their assistance.

Now In terms of threat by Rafael, it will take India at least 2-3 yrs to integrate them and once fully operational these would be taking over from Mirage-2000s the strike role. These units will be under immense workload as not only would they be primary ground strike fighters a mere 36 units cannot at the same time provide Air cover against Pakistan let alone both Pakistan and China borders at same time while being the primary strike fighter. Yes they will likely order more but that even if fast tracked those wont be start arriving for at least another 3yrs. They've also made the grave mistake of upgrading their Jaguar's but not replacing the power plants as they couldnt haggle a good deal for the upgraded engines, this will mean despite having a AESA radar those jets would be under powered (thrust and electronically) plus old engines means no improvement in aircraft availability. Tejas's are being added but we all know it has terribly short legs and is just a defense fighter.

In the mean time our JF-17s previous units will be getting ability to fire PL-15s and the new ones will be starting to be inducted.

As observed in past PAF will be quietly evolving and upgrading old assets without much advertise.
By 2025-2030 Azm would be coming online and by looking at India's pace of things PAF might be the first to get stealth jets in the region. Mirages and F-7s would be replaced so PAF is covered and its plans are well thought out. We can always buy J-10Cs if India pulls a wild move and makes a large order of something we cant handle but it has to be a reactionary move, else if we do it first it would put India in a buying frenzy and add additional strain on our long term plans.

Future PAF 2025+ looks promising. Also need to understand PAF is investing in UCAV development and network centric warfare. We might even see fighters and UCAVs working together to reduce pilot risks.

PAF is in the same predicament as Israeli AF (larger foe) and I see parallel in tactics. My own speculation is PAF might or has already converted older retired jets to decoy and suicide drones adding a multiplier effect to PAFs war efforts. Not a difficult taks as China has J-6 and J-7 drone variants and Israel has used this tactic to force opponents to reveal SAM unit locations. But if done I don't expect PAF to acknowledge such a feat as secrecy is important for these types of things.

 

[Salman876]

Name which modern plane PAF has not evaluated and rejected....EF/J10/Grippen/M2K.....almost all...PAF has been preoccupied with AF SOLA

F22, F35, Su57, J20

 

[Shabi1]

No flight evals by pilots other than maybe a joyride for the leadership of the air force, only a few presentations and brochures.

They flew JF-17s against Rafaels in recent exercises so PAF does now know at what ranges both can detect each other.

 

[Cool_Soldier]

To find out tactic plan against another machines, Air Chief does not need to visit.
Technical staff and war Tactic College officers need to do inspection thoroughly.

Here purpose could be overall view and dealing something new (Co operation pact for access to New plane and might be buying some MK2)

 

[ARMalik]

The threat spectrum of EW SPECTRA will be different for each country. It will be interesting to see IAF using Link-16 for Rafale as tactical Data Link.

This what Dassault website says:

Also instrumental in SPECTRA’s performance is a threat library that can be easily defined, integrated and updated on short notice by users in their own country, and in full autonomy.

https://www.dassault-aviation.com/en/defense/rafale/a-wide-range-of-smart-and-discrete-sensors/

The 'Threat Library' of SPECTRA would be only as good as the information content of the Library. I highly doubt that this Indian SPECTRA has enough information on JF-17s. On the other hand, PAF has plenty of Rafale related Information for the JF-17's threat Library.

 

[Haris Ali2140]

The 'Threat Library' of SPECTRA would be only as good as the information content of the Library. I highly doubt that this Indian SPECTRA has enough information on JF-17s. On the other hand, PAF has plenty of Rafale related Information for the JF-17's threat Library.

Its a two way road. We will mostly collect them from Qatar and maybe Egypt. These countries can send info to FRance which will likely go to India.

 

[NA71]

F22, F35, Su57, J20

oh yes....good point....chances that they will also be rejected.

 

[Dalit]

We know these birds inside out LOL I am pretty sure our officers flew in them. This is a predicament for Modi to say the least.

Finally the little brown Nazi got his hands on Rafale. Only to find out Pak has been observing and flying in them.

 

[adelphi]

War is fought with an array of weapons. We hold the edge with some as India might do with Rafael or S400. Pakistan managed to successfully ward off IAF with manpads during Kargil at times when PAF didn't even had BVR capability. Rafael might give India an edge but they have to land somewhere. If we can't match them in the air, we still do have the capability to attack & destroy any airbase that will house the aggressor squadron.
Regardless of what Modi thinks or says, Indian military establishment knows that in any real conflict they have more to loose than Pakistan.

 

[Irfan Baloch]

Do they have same Rafales like that of Indians?

the Jets are configured to country specific needs so they wont be exactly the same but very close for sure if the purpose of your inquiry is to train with Qatar to better counter Indian Rafale

Our pilots have never flown, touched or seen Rafael.

Infact they close their eyes when they sit inside and take it out for a ride.

This story is confirmed by multiple Pakistani pilots who have been flying Rafael and training Qatari pilots with their eyes closed .

then Modi will sleep easy now
our pilots dont know anything about Rafales
because with eyes closed our pilots lost the opportunity
its a shame