Allies eye India data on Chinese weapons
Indian air defence systems and radars gathered considerable information on Chinese-origin equipment
As India’s armed forces continue sifting through and analysing the information gathered during last month’s clashes with Pakistan, there is growing interest among New Delhi’s strategic partners in gaining access to electronic and digital signatures of Chinese-origin weaponry scooped up by Indian air defence systems.
The air forces of India and Pakistan were involved in several engagements between May 7, when New Delhi launched Operation Sindoor to target terrorist infrastructure in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack, and May 10, when the two sides reached an understanding on halting military actions. Experts have characterised these as the most intense air-to-air combat engagements in recent times.
People familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity that Indian air defence systems and radars gathered considerable information on Chinese-origin equipment, particularly the J-10C and JF-17 combat jets, PL-15 active radar-guided beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile and HQ-9 long-range surface-to-air missile. This was the first known use in combat for most of this equipment, they said.
China, which hasn’t fought a war in more than four decades, has emerged as Pakistan’s main supplier of military hardware, accounting for 81% of weapons imported by Islamabad, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). According to experts, the clashes were the first test for China’s military exports such as the J-10C jets and PL-15 missiles.
“All the information gathered by the Indian side would be of great relevance to many countries in the Indo-Pacific, which encounter Chinese aircraft and weaponry in regions such as the South and East China Sea and are preparing for possible hostilities involving such weapon systems,” said a diplomat from an Asian nation engaged in a maritime dispute with China, declining to be named.
A defence official from an European nation acknowledged that France, in particular, would be keen to get an insight into the electronic and digital signatures of Chinese-origin weaponry gathered by India’s air defence systems, especially in the context of numerous reports about the shooting down of a Rafale combat jet.
“The parameters of weapons systems can be reconfigured for export versions but if one has access to basic information on the Chinese-origin equipment such as electronic signatures, a country’s defensive equipment can be set up better to counter such threats,” the defence official. “In that sense, all this information on equipment that hasn’t been used in combat before would be invaluable.”
Indian officials declined to comment on the matter. It also could not be immediately ascertained whether any of India’s strategic partners have made formal requests for access to information on Chinese-origin equipment.
Chris Clary, an associate professor of political science at the University at Albany, State University of New York, who closely tracks security matters related to India and Pakistan, pointed to the importance of electronic and digital signatures in developing counter-measures.
“Comprehensive and up-to-date threat libraries are crucial for electronic warfare to defeat adversary threats. In addition to recovering physical debris in the May clashes, which will be of intense interest, India scooped up emissions data during its operations against Pakistan,” Clary said. “This will give India some opportunities to barter with its strategic partners.”
In addition to jointly developing the JF-17 combat jet, China and Pakistan have conducted increasingly sophisticated joint exercises. Reports have suggested that the Chinese side rushed emergency supplies to Pakistan during the clashes and backed it with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR).
Indian officials have said a few hi-tech fighter jets of the Pakistan Air Force were shot down during Operation Sindoor and the Indian Air Force has been poring over technical details to establish hits. “We don’t have the wreckage as their (PAF) planes were prevented from entering our airspace. But we have downed a few planes,” Air Marshal AK Bharti, director general air operations, said last month.
Chief of defence staff General Anil Chauhan said during the recent Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore that India lost fighter jets on the opening day of the military confrontation with Pakistan due to tactical mistakes, which were swiftly rectified before the IAF returned in big numbers and carried out precision strikes deep inside the neighbouring country by punching through its air defences.
Clary also noted that Pakistan has debris of S-400 interceptors, BrahMos and SCALP EG missiles and Harop drones that will be of interest to that country’s partners, including China.
