The Kashmir conflict 2025.

ohan_qwe

Junior Member
“PAF has pulled off quite a brilliant move with this combat achievement.

In the past, while diehard American equipment fanatics and French gear extremists couldn't stand each other, their core objective of disparaging Chinese tech remained aligned, preventing major conflicts between them.

But now things get complicated. The Rafale jet - the crown jewel of French equipment that Francophiles have been hyping for years - has been shot down. If French gear fanatics want to maintain their anti-China stance, they must deny the Rafale was downed by J-10/JF-17 fighters with PL-15 missiles. Instead, they'd have to attribute the kill to PAF's F-16s with AIM-120s. But this admission would essentially acknowledge French tech as inferior to older American systems - practically requiring them to kowtow to American gear enthusiasts. Could French fanatics swallow such humiliation?

If Francophiles want to save face, they'll inevitably claim the Rafale was ambushed by Chinese jets with PL-15s, even arguing that PL-15s outperform AIM-120s in PAF's arsenal. This directly triggers American gear extremists' red line, as many have been shouting that F-16s/AIM-120s took down the Rafale. Openly contradicting this would inevitably spark conflict between the two factions.

Similarly, American gear fanatics seeking to capitalize on this incident must credit the kill to AIM-120s while disparaging French equipment, inevitably clashing with French supporters.

Thus, PAF's brilliance lies precisely in leaving PL-15E wreckage in Indian territory. With no AIM-120 debris found yet, some creatures might need to brainstorm new narratives”

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
Why would US be triggered by that decade old F-16 designed in 1970s isn't top of the line? It's not like F-35 was involved
 

defenceman

Junior Member
Registered Member
Hi,
if someone can decode DG ISPR press conference & he is a 3 star general
he clearly say in it our jets remain in our territory did not cross the LOC to
shoot down the Indian airforce planes, by virtue of this one can assume that
Pl15 been used at their utmost level of speed and performance another thing
which he mentioned in his press conference was Pakistan deliberately left 10
more fighters without shooting those beside this once these shot down fighters
release their payload towards Pakistan they been put down towards the ground
probably couple of been went down with HQ9 rest by airforce
thank you
 

sheogorath

Colonel
Registered Member

ougoah

Brigadier
Registered Member
Since it doesn't look mangled but uniform, can we assume it found its target rather than being intercepted?

AAMs don't get intercepted. Not by this bunch at least. Maybe China and US are in the business and level of intercepting AAMs through kinetic means (both can surely disrupt modern, late 20th century and early 21st century AAMs using electromagnetic means).

Find target or not. The below is what we know and what both sides basically confirm officially and from observable osints and visual records.

  • At least 3 fighter wreckages within India/India occupied Kashmir (IOK). Claims go up to 5 sites or more. But 3 is visually confirmed.

  • India rapidly cleaned up the areas and retrieved the wrecks.

  • Photos and videos that got out indicate one site with an undeniable (yes, even to the most extreme 50 IQ bhakts) M88 engine wreckage which confirms Rafale shot down. No other fighter on the planet uses the M88 engine apart from the Rafale.
IMG_3824.jpeg
Above M88 engine at airshow even has Rafale in the infoboard.

1000003347.jpg

Literally no other fighter engine looks like this one.

Google what the JF-17 engine looks like - it uses a RD-93 or WS-13 engine and the plumbing and housing for combustion chamber does not look like this M88.

The J-10CE uses a WS-10B engine. Also looks nothing like this.

The M88 wreck matches the M88 engine by the combustion chamber housing, unique simply plumbing pipes, and the relatively unique petals.
  • Another wreck site shows a French pylon (fighters DO NOT discard pylons EVER unless of course it's a killed fighter, in which case this is because the French pylon is lying next to a videoed fighter crash site. This pylon matches with Rafale pylon rather than Mirage pylon with one layer of painted text damaged/burnt off. MICA missile (only used by Indian Airforce in this engagement) wreck is also undeniable and close by. MICA is definitely used by Rafale and possibly could be used by Mirage maybe someone can confirm whether Indian Mirage fighters use the MICA. It definitely was part of the Rafale purchase package though so possibly a second Rafale shot down can be confirmed. If not Rafale, this would be Mirage.

1000003337.jpg

LM3266 pylon is exclusive to the Rafale.jpg

  • India has possessed the wrecks for about 17 hours now and have kept quiet. They did not say these were Pakistani fighters. If they were Pakistani fighters, they'd already make the claim officially. Pakistan has officially announced that they have shot down 3 Rafales, 1 Su-30MKI and 1 Mirage. Pakistan's claims are holding more water simply because India has possession of all the wrecks which fell on their side and they initially admitted this before media censorship started. Meanwhile Pakistan's official claim of downing mutiple Indian fighters on India's side of the border could be so easily smashed if India show the wrecks. Visual evidence show the wrecks are of 1 or 2 Rafale and 1 unknown fighter.

  • Last bit of interesting info is that at least one PL-15 Pakistan fired has a component retrieved inside India. It's impossible to confirm if this missile hit its target or not from available information but the PL-15 is a PL-15E version which is a downgraded export version. Given the number of confirmed fighters shot down, two of which match Rafale (one confirmed Rafale engine wreck and one likely Rafale pylon and missile at crash site), it's pretty safe to think that Pakistan used PL-15E missiles from China against these Rafales. I mean, ffs put 1 and 1 together it's not fucking hard.
 
Last edited:

GiantPanda

Junior Member
Registered Member
We don't know anything about aerial picture yet, too early to guess.

Significant one-sided losses usually point more towards successful ambush, not high altitude, high speed throws

There is also the possibility of

1) long range throws through mid-course 3rd party guidance (satellite or AEW) which would be effectively silent until terminal lock from the AAM or

2) long range throws against targets that are jammed and blinded by EW
 

siegecrossbow

General
Staff member
Super Moderator
AAMs don't get intercepted. Not by this bunch at least. Maybe China and US are in the business and level of intercepting AAMs through kinetic means (both can surely disrupt modern, late 20th century and early 21st century AAMs using electromagnetic means).

Find target or not. The below is what we know and what both sides basically confirm officially and from observable osints and visual records.

  • At least 3 fighter wreckages within India/India occupied Kashmir (IOK). Claims go up to 5 sites or more. But 3 is visually confirmed.

  • India rapidly cleaned up the areas.

  • Photos and videos that got out indicate one site with an undeniable (yes, even to the most extreme 50 IQ bhakts) M88 engine wreckage which confirms Rafale shot down. No other fighter on the planet uses the M88 engine apart from the Rafale.

  • Another wreck site shows a French pylon (fighters DO NOT discard pylons EVER unless of course it's a killed fighter, in which case this is because the French pylon is lying next to a videoed fighter crash site. This pylon matches with Rafale pylon rather than Mirage pylon with one layer of painted text damaged/burnt off. MICA missile (only used by Indian Airforce in this engagement) wreck is also undeniable and close by. MICA is definitely used by Rafale and possibly could be used by Mirage maybe someone can confirm whether Indian Mirage fighters use the MICA. It definitely was part of the Rafale purchase package though so possibly a second Rafale shot down can be confirmed. If not Rafale, this would be Mirage.

  • India has possessed the wrecks for about 17 hours now and have kept quiet. They did not say these were Pakistani fighters. If they were Pakistani fighters, they'd already make the claim officially. Pakistan has officially announced that they have shot down 3 Rafales, 1 Su-30MKI and 1 Mirage. Pakistan's claims are holding more water simply because India has possession of all the wrecks which fell on their side and they initially admitted this before media censorship started. Meanwhile Pakistan's official claim of downing mutiple Indian fighters on India's side of the border could be so easily smashed if India show the wrecks. Visual evidence show the wrecks are of 1 or 2 Rafale and 1 unknown fighter.

  • Last bit of interesting info is that at least one PL-15 Pakistan fired has a component retrieved inside India. It's impossible to confirm if this missile hit its target or not from available information but the PL-15 is a PL-15E version which is a downgraded export version. Given the number of confirmed fighters shot down, two of which match Rafale (one confirmed Rafale engine wreck and one likely Rafale pylon and missile at crash site), it's pretty safe to think that Pakistan used PL-15E missiles from China against these Rafales. I mean, ffs put 1 and 1 together it's not fucking hard.

It is pretty hard to find AAM components due to size. As with the AIM-120C from 2019 I think that they found it along with the wreckage.
 
Top