Of course, the biggest benefit of numerical superiority is that the Indian Air Force still holds the initiative after suffering heavy losses.

For the Pakistan Air Force, it is not so thick.

Although more Indian fighters were shot down, the huge losses have made the Pakistan Air Force realize that fighting a war of attrition is certainly no match for the Indian Air Force.

It is too early to say that it is necessary to regain the initiative.

At present, the main task of the Pakistan Air Force is actually to contain the offensive momentum of the Indian Air Force and make the Indian Air Force timid.

How to fight?

Counter-attack, of course.

Not a full-scale counterattack, but a limited counterattack.

In fact, in the evening of the same day, the Pakistani army had already launched a striking counterattack, but in the north, near Lahore.

In anticipation of a possible night attack by the Indian Air Force, the Pakistani military coordinated and the Army took on the task of counterattacking.

In the evening, dozens of long-range rocket artillery pieces of the Pakistan Army began to wield.

In order to increase the intensity of the counterattack and also to undermine India's morale, the Pakistan Army used precision-guided rockets procured from China.

It was not the Indian Air Force that counterattacked, but the Indian Army, which was deployed in the front, to be precise, forward air defense positions, especially air defense radars.

In fact, in this direction, the Indian Air Force is most afraid of Pakistan's long-range rocket artillery.

Why?

The theoretical range of these rocket artillery can reach 400 kilometers, at least close to 300 kilometers, and if deployed in the front, it can cover all military targets within more than 200 kilometers in India, so the forward bases of the Indian Air Force are all within the strike range of these rocket artillery.

What's more, this is rocket artillery, not ballistic missiles.

A rocket artillery can shoot 12 long-range rockets at a time, while a long-range rocket artillery battalion can shoot hundreds of rockets at a time.

Obviously, no single means is capable of intercepting so many rockets.

What's more, rockets are inherently cheap, and intercepting rockets can be said to be more than worth the loss.

To this end, as early as a few years ago, the Indian Air Force made adjustments, dismantling almost all air bases close to the border, and some of them were downgraded to temporary bases.

In addition, the Indian Air Force also transferred its main fighters to the rear air base early.

To put it bluntly, it's the fear of being hit.

As a result, Indian Air Force fighter jets need to fly more than 300 kilometers to reach the border after takeoff.

If it is an offensive operation, then it will have to fly hundreds of kilometers.

The biggest problem is actually in the command system.

As the airbase retreated, the long-range air defense systems mastered by the Indian Air Force followed suit, while the field air defense systems of the Army were deployed at the front.

Obviously, long-range air defense radars, deployed in the rear for hundreds of kilometers, make little sense.

So what to do?

India could not find a better way, so it could only purchase some air defense radars separately and deploy them on forward positions to establish a separate command and control system.

In fact, the best way is to purchase more AWACS aircraft and replace ground-based radars with AWACS aircraft.

The Pakistan Air Force did just that, making AWACS the core of its air defense.

It's a pity that even if India has money, it can't buy a good AWACS aircraft.

Why?

Russia has only A-50s, and they are extremely small in number, and there is no production line, so no matter how much money India pays, it is impossible for Russia to sell the few A-50s it has to India.

What about the United States?

There are a lot of AWACS aircraft, but most of them are of the E-3 series, and the newly developed AWACS aircraft have not yet been obtained by the US military itself.

Of course, there is also the price factor.

Even the old-fashioned E-3C is still second-hand, and the price offered by the United States is more than $1 billion, which is far more than India can afford.

What about Israel?

After selling the last three sets of "Ferkang" to India, Israel closed the production line of radar and no longer supplied related products to the outside world.

Of course, Europe has.

Sweden has been developing early warning aircraft and has been selling early warning aircraft, but Sweden has only completed the research and development of small early warning aircraft, and at present, it only has the ability to integrate radar into small platforms, and cannot provide customers with large early warning aircraft like E-3 for the time being.

It can be said that today only Huaxia can provide large early warning aircraft.

It is a pity that no matter how much money India spends, it is impossible for Huaxia to sell large AWACS aircraft such as the KJ-2000 or KJ-3000 to India.

In fact, even such a medium AWACS aircraft as the KJ-500 is impossible.

Self-producing?

Obviously, even if the technology of large aircraft and phased array radar is sold to India, with India's industrial strength, it will not be able to build a good early warning aircraft.

As for the purchase of small AWACS, in fact, there is not much point.

In peacetime, small AWACS aircraft can only serve as radar stations in the air at most, and in wartime, small AWACS aircraft are almost useless.

In fact, the United States has been selling the E-2D to India, and India has also considered purchasing the E-2D, but in the end it gave up.

Why?

E-2D is a carrier-based early warning aircraft, a veritable small early warning aircraft, to give full play to its value, it is also necessary to purchase a set of special communication command system, establish a set of special data links, and the cost on this is much more than the purchase of several large early warning aircraft.

If it's just E-2D, then it's not worth much.

You must know that even the US military only regards the E-2D as an airborne radar war, and when fighting, it still has to be commanded by a warship specially responsible for air defense.

In fact, this is one of the reasons for the low combat efficiency of the Indian Air Force.

There are not enough AWACS aircraft, and they can only rely on ground-based radars.

The targets of Pakistan's counterattack are those radars that are deployed in advance.

In terms of tactics, as long as these radars are knocked out, there will be huge loopholes in the command system of the Indian Air Force, and it will have to rely more on those "Filcon".

Because at any one time, at most one "Filcon" can patrol the air, the command capability of this AWACS aircraft has become the upper limit of the size of the Indian Air Force's attack aircraft group.

As long as the attack intensity of the Indian Air Force is limited, that is, the number of fighters put into service at a time, the combat pressure of the Pakistan Air Force can be greatly reduced.

In terms of tactical system, those long-range rocket artillery purchased by Pakistan exist for this purpose.

It can be said that the Pakistani army has been preparing for this for a long time, and has long drawn up a counterattack plan, waiting only for the opportunity to counterattack.

Dozens of ultra-long-range rocket launchers are not enough to defeat the Indian army, but they are enough to create huge problems for the Indian Air Force.

After this round of counterattacks, the Indian Air Force no longer needs to think about the offensive, but the home defense, that is, how to deal with the counterattack of the Pakistani Air Force.