Long-range firepower strikes, aviation must be the first priority.

Even with ordinary LS-5 gliding guided bombs, the JF-17 can be dropped at a distance of 60 km, which is more than the range of almost all guns.

In addition, bombs are much more powerful than artillery shells.

LS-5 is actually a series, which is divided into five types according to the caliber of bombs, namely 100 kg, 250 kg, 500 kg, 1000 kg and 2500 kg.

Comparatively speaking, the largest number of equipment is the 250 kg class and the 500 kg class.

These two levels also have their own rocket booster range extension models, and they use booster components, that is, they can be selected and installed according to needs.

However, the Pakistan Air Force procures the most 100-kilogram class.

Not that it is cheaper, but the 100-kilogram one is more suitable for small targets such as fortresses.

Blowing up a machine-gun fortress, or a bunker-like fortification, a 250-kilogram bomb is simply too big to be wasted.

Of course, the main waste is the bomb-carrying capacity of combat aircraft.

Quite simply, the 250-kilogram LS-5 is less than $1,000 more expensive than the 100-kilogram one with the same guidance system.

Where's the price?

That is, the cost of making a 250-kilogram bomb.

Obviously, $1,000 is not much at all compared to the price of a guided bomb that can easily cost tens of thousands of dollars.

At least half of these 100-kilogram LS-5 gliding guided bombs procured by the Pakistan Air Force are equipped with laser seekers.

Why?

The accuracy of laser guidance is higher, which can reach less than 1 meter, while the Beidou satellite seeker can increase the accuracy of the impact point to 3 meters at most, and the actual use is about 5 meters.

Obviously, against a solid machine-gun fortress, an accuracy of 5 meters may not be enough.

In addition, these 100-kilogram bombs equipped with laser seeker all use delay-time fuses and have a certain ability to penetrate the ground.

In the actual measurement, it can penetrate 100% of concrete 1 meter thick or 5 meter thick soil.

In addition, the penetration thickness of solid rock is more than 1 meter.

This criterion is actually aimed at the fortresses and strongholds of the Indian army on the Kashmir defense line.

Why?

Most of the Indian army's forts were actually dug out of the mountain, and the top was usually rock, or stones glued together with cement, and the thickness was less than 1 meter.

With this thickness, it is enough to deal with large-caliber shells.

It's just that in the face of aerial bombs, it is certainly far from enough.

You know, even a 100-kilogram small-diameter bomb is dozens of times more powerful than a 155-mm shell.

In addition, Wang Dong also suggested that the Pakistan Air Force keep enough JF-17s.

Not that this fighter is good, but it is cheap enough to be equipped in large quantities, and the maintenance costs are very low, and the combat efficiency is frighteningly high.

You know, by the third batch, the unit price of the JF-17 did not exceed $15 million.

That is, the money for one JF-20 was able to buy about 5 JF-17s.

When performing low-intensity ground strike missions, the combat effectiveness of 5 JF-17s is definitely higher than that of 1 JF-20.

In fact, when Wang Dong and the others put forward this proposal, the Pakistan Air Force once planned to sell all the JF-17s to Iraq and use the money in exchange for purchasing JF-20s.

It was because of Wang Dong's suggestion that the Pakistan Air Force retained more than 100 JF-17s of the third batch.

Of course, a large part of it is new.

At least half of these JF-17s are deployed in the northern Pakistani theater, and their primary mission is to provide long-range fire support to ground forces during an offensive.

There are about 60 of them, which is not a lot.

It's just that, according to Wang Dong's estimate, this is enough.

These fighters, capable of continuously supporting ground forces with a scale of 10 per wave, are able to last for days thanks to very simple maintenance.

If, after a few days, the assault forces did not reach Jammu, there would be no need to fight.

Of course, 60 fighter jets is really far from enough, and Pakistan's financial resources cannot purchase more fighter jets, and it is difficult to even maintain them.

So what to do?

That's right, after fighters, the next best option is long-range rocket artillery, to be precise, long-range rocket artillery using guided rockets.

In fact, this is also the key to the Pakistan Army's insistence on deploying two long-range rocket shore artillery battalions in the north.

These rocket artillery, when using the latest model of guided rockets, have a range of nearly 400 kilometers, and can cover the entire Kashmir when deployed near Fort ***.

However, the Pakistan Army did not use rocket artillery as its main support firepower.

Why?

Guided rockets are simply too expensive.

A 100-kilogram LS-5 gliding guided bomb was purchased by the Pakistani military for about $50,000, while a 370-mm guided rocket cost $100,000.

A salvo of 24 rocket launchers from an artillery battalion will cost tens of millions of dollars!

Of course, when using guided rockets, there will definitely be no salvo, they are all single shots, and you don't even need to use all the rocket artillery.

To put it simply, it is to launch rockets after the front troops have called.

Expensive is expensive, but rocket artillery has an advantage that the air force does not have, that is, it can provide fire support to front-line troops in a very timely manner.

With the launch ready, the front-line troops were able to hit the target within ten minutes of making the call.

Of course, like the LS-5, these rockets are laser-guided.

The goal is the same, to improve the accuracy of the hit and ensure that the first shot hits the soul.

In addition to rocket artillery, the Pakistan Army has a second option, which is dozens of PLZ-52GP self-propelled howitzers that have been improved and replaced with 45 barrels.

These howitzers, before the start of the offensive, will all go into offensive positions, that is, artillery positions close to the front line.

In the initial period of the offensive, they were tasked with suppressing Indian artillery.

Of course, as the offensive deepens, they can also provide long-range artillery support to the assault force.

To this end, the Pakistan Army has also specially purchased a batch of laser-guided artillery shells, but the number of purchases is not very large.

Why?

The power of the shells is really on the low side.

Against permanent fortifications, even if they hit directly, 155-mm shells may not be able to destroy them.

In view of this problem, Wang Dong emphasized that when formulating tactics, they should only call for artillery support when dealing with semi-permanent fortifications.

The problem is that on the Indian line of defense, there are almost no semi-permanent fortifications.

Not that there aren't, but very few.

Of course, with the outbreak of war, the Indian army will definitely strengthen its vigilance, and will also temporarily build some fortifications, and these fortifications will definitely be semi-permanent fortifications.

When dealing with these semi-permanent fortifications, it is not necessarily necessary to use guided shells.

In many cases, covered artillery bombardment can also achieve the goal of destroying the living forces of the Indian army.

After nearly seven days of preparation, the Pakistan Army is finally about to fight.