`India bought 36 Rafale fighters from France at a high price and caused great pressure on Pakistan. Rafale is one of the most modern fighter jets in the world. Pakistan does not know their true capabilities and this is the problem.
The comment was made after India recently received the first 5 in a batch of 36 Rafale fighters ordered from Dassault Group, France with a value of 8.7 billion USD.
Rafale fighter took off from France to India in July. Photo: Dassault.
Rafale is expected to add strength to the Indian air force by being able to perform many tasks, including electronic warfare, air combat, ground strikes and deep strikes.
Even before the Rafales were delivered, Chinese and Pakistani experts discussed the possibility of Indian fighter jets encountering the JF-17 multirole fighter developed by China and transferred to Pakistan.
The JF-17 is a light, single-engine multirole fighter developed by a joint venture between China’s Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) and Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC).
The JF-17 series helps Pakistan replace many outdated fighters in service such as the A-5C, F-7P/PG, Mirage III and Mirage V, which is expected to ensure the ability to deal with modern fighters.
The Pakistani Air Force still has F-16 fighters purchased from the US, but the contract terms stipulate that Islamabad can only use them for the purpose of `strengthening the ability to carry out anti-terrorism operations`, making it impossible for Islamabad to
Despite acknowledging Rafale’s superiority, Chinese experts believe that the JF-17 fighter can still threaten the enemy, especially when Beijing deploys the Block 3 variant with many improvements in combat networks.
`Rafale can carry Meteor air-to-air missiles with a range of 150 km. The JF-17 Block 3 variant is compatible with the PL-15 long-range missile, which has a range of 160-200 km,` an expert said,
Pakistani JF-17 fighter.
Times Now News editor Srinjoy Chowdhury said the Pakistani JF-17 squadron also encountered a series of maintenance problems, negatively affecting their ability to fight and deal with Indian Rafale and Su-30 fighters.
`The JF-17 uses Russian-made RD-93 engines, they need to be overhauled and replaced at the end of their operational life, only the Russian arms export corporation Rosoboronexport can provide maintenance parts or engines
Islamabad is looking to replace the RD-93 with engines developed by China, but they are still not reliable enough and do not seem to meet the technical and tactical performance requirements for the JF-17 fighter.
Olivia