Looking at it more comprehensively, in fact, the Indian Air Force has long been abandoned by the Pakistan Air Force.

You must know that what determines the combat effectiveness of an air force is definitely not a few fighters, but the entire system, including early warning aircraft and other support aircraft.

In this regard, India has not an advantage, but a disadvantage.

After decades, India has only 3 large AWACS aircraft, and the self-developed small AWACS aircraft, after completing the manufacture of the first prototype, there is no follow-up.

Interestingly, these 3 "Ferkang" in India are still cheaper than those in China.

That is, Huaxia purchased four sets of "Ferkang" systems in Israel that year, preparing to integrate them into Russia's large transport aircraft, so as to obtain its own large early warning aircraft, but the United States intervened arbitrarily and made Israel cancel the contract, resulting in the collapse of the whole deal.

Since then, India has taken the opportunity to sell these "Fercon" radars and put them on large transport planes, which were also purchased from Russia.

It's just that India only bought three sets.

As for the other set, its whereabouts are still unknown.

For nearly 20 years, the Indian Air Force has relied on these three large AWACS aircraft to provide façade.

So, is 3 large AWACS aircraft enough?

Clearly not enough, and far from enough.

Theoretically, 3 large AWACS aircraft can only meet the operational needs of one strategic direction, and at most they can cope with a small-scale air conflict.

Why?

A large AWACS aircraft can command at most a dozen fighters to fight, and in a large-scale war, there will definitely be more fighters than that.

In addition, the three AWACS aircraft had to be kept intact.

As long as one plane is lost, even if it is just a malfunction and cannot be dispatched, there will be a vulnerability.

It is precisely for this reason that Japan has procured four E-767s, and the extra one is used as a backup to ensure that it can maintain a complete airborne early warning capability even after the loss of one.

Obviously, with just these 3 "Filcon", the Indian Air Force basically can't do anything.

To put it more bluntly, as long as the Huaxia Air Force strengthens its deployment in the southwest direction and does something, the Indian Air Force will have to send early warning planes over.

So, what to use against the Pakistani Air Force?

There are no AWACS, relying on ground-based radars?

Don't be funny.

If the Pakistani Air Force does not have AWACS aircraft and also relies on ground-based radars, then it is better to say, after all, both sides are on the same starting line.

The problem is that Pakistan not only has AWACS, but also more than the Indian Air Force.

At present, the Pakistan Air Force already has 12 early warning aircraft, of which 8 are medium early warning aircraft and the other 4 are small early warning aircraft.

Relying on these 12 AWACS, the Pakistan Air Force can ensure that at least one AWACS aircraft patrols in the air in the direction of Kashmir in the north and Karachi in the south at all times, so that the local prevention and control network remains intact and there are no obvious loopholes.

More importantly, the Pakistan Air Force's eight medium-sized early warning aircraft are all from China.

Four of them were the first to be procured ZDK-03.

After that, after Huaxia developed the KJ-500, Pakistan bought 4 ZDK-05s, which are the export version of the KJ-500.

Of course, according to convention, the KJ-500 that was exported to Pakistan was actually for its own use, but with a different name.

After the installation of four ZDK-05s, the Pakistan Air Force also sent four ZDK-03s back to China to upgrade the main equipment, including radar.

That is, in terms of radar performance, the ZDK-03 has reached the level of the ZDK-05.

It can be said that these early warning aircraft of Pakistan are no worse than India's "Ferkang" in terms of radar performance, and even better.

Of course, if there is any problem, there are medium AWACS aircraft as well.

The first is endurance, due to the limitations of the airframe, Pakistan's medium-sized AWACS aircraft can only patrol for a maximum of 6 hours at a distance of 300 kilometers from the base.

That is, at least 4 aircraft need to be deployed in one direction to ensure 24-hour uninterrupted air patrol.

In fact, this is also the key to Pakistan's purchase of 4 aircraft each time.

It stands to reason that it is best to buy one more and keep one as a backup.

It's just that, due to financial constraints, Pakistan simply can't buy more AWACS aircraft.

Fortunately, it's not too much of a problem.

Don't forget, the ZDK-05 is actually the KJ-500, and Huaxia has dozens of KJ-500s, which can provide assistance to Pakistan at any time as long as it is needed.

Of course, you need to switch to an operating system that uses English, but it's not a hassle.

In addition, it is the ability to command.

In fact, this is also a common problem of medium-sized AWACS aircraft.

Also limited by the airframe, the command capability of medium-sized early warning aircraft is obviously weaker, that is, it cannot deploy the command post of Taidu.

Fortunately, this problem can be remedied by an automated control system.

ZDK-05 can command 16 or 16 fighter groups at the same time, and directly send battlefield information to fighters through data links.

In high-intensity combat, the control ability can also be doubled by simplifying the control program.

In fact, this has surpassed the Indian "Filcon".

You must know that because it has not been upgraded, India's "Ferkang" has seriously lagged behind in command capability, and it is not even as good as a medium-sized early warning aircraft.

It can be seen that only in the item of early warning aircraft, the Indian Air Force is not half a point behind.

In addition to AWACS aircraft, there are air command aircraft, electronic reconnaissance aircraft, electronic warfare aircraft, and so on.

Although the Pakistan Air Force is not strong in these aspects, it is much better than the Indian Air Force, which is basically a blank slate.

Pakistan has at least four air command aircraft, as well as six electronic reconnaissance aircraft, and at least two electronic warfare aircraft.

In addition to the air command aircraft purchased from Europe, the electronic reconnaissance aircraft and electronic warfare aircraft are all from China, and the same platform used by the ZDK-05, that is, the Y-9 transport aircraft.

Relying on these support aircraft, the Pakistan Air Force has established a relatively complete air combat system.

Although compared with big countries such as the United States and China, the system construction of the Pakistan Air Force is still very backward and can even be said to be vulnerable, but compared with the Indian Air Force, the system of the Pakistan Air Force can be regarded as very advanced and very powerful.

It is in this way that the Pakistani Air Force dares to see the scale of the fighter.

According to the Pakistan Air Force's own assessment, with the support of the system, the Pakistan Air Force will be able to compete with the Indian Air Force's 500 to 600 fighters with about 300 advanced fighters, and will have the ability to maintain air supremacy throughout the war.

Well, what about the Indian Air Force?

Obviously, relying only on 36 F-35A, it is simply impossible for the Indian Air Force to gain absolute superiority, let alone win in a large-scale war.

If you really want to fight, you can't say who will kill the deer.