On the fourth night of the war, the Indian Air Force took action.

The first to go into battle were the missile units attached to the Indian Air Force.

In India, the ballistic missile forces are all part of the Air Force, not the Army.

In fact, this is also the first time that India has used ballistic missiles since the outbreak of the war.

Why didn't it work before?

It can't be used, and it doesn't have to be used.

Although after several decades of efforts, India has made some breakthroughs in long-range missiles, developed quasi-intercontinental ballistic missiles with a range of more than 5,000 kilometers, and equipped its troops, and has become India's most important strategic strike force, or even the only strategic strike force, in terms of missile technology, India is still very backward, and its long-range ballistic missiles are still liquid-fuel missiles.

In terms of missile technology alone, India is not even comparable to North Korea.

Of course, India also has solid-fuel ballistic missiles, but all of them are short-range missiles.

In addition, the number of equipment is not very large.

Why?

Too expensive, and not very efficient in combat.

Because it regards ballistic missiles as strategic weapons, India has always insisted on developing ballistic missiles on its own, with little help from Russia and Western countries.

Perhaps, that's the problem.

You know, India has been engaged in it for decades, and it can't even make standard rifles.

The short-range ballistic missiles equipped with the Indian Air Force have a range of less than 500 kilometers, although the warheads are large, at least 500 kilograms, and some even reach 1 ton, but the accuracy is frighteningly low, with deviations of hundreds of meters, and the first few even exceed 1 kilometer.

Such a missile, can it be used?

Of course, it is barely usable to hit large military targets such as military camps and airfields.

These Indian missiles were aimed at Pakistan's air bases.

Subsequently, the Indian Air Force launched a surprise attack.

The intention is also clear: to use ballistic missiles to disable Pakistani air bases, and then launch an air offensive to consume Pakistani fighter jets that have already taken to the air.

The idea is good, but the implementation is not very good.

In the Lahore direction, two squadrons of Su-30MKI and F-16E/F, committed by the Indian Air Force, were intercepted by Pakistani fighters before they could cross the border.

However, the Indian Air Force did not give up, and immediately launched a challenge in the north, that is, Kashmir.

It is still the Su-30MKI and F-16E / F that are in the charge.

Because it was next to the capital, the Pakistani Air Force also did not relax in this direction and immediately dispatched JF-20s to intercept it.

It was also at this time that the F-16E/F, which was tasked with suppression, appeared.

Six F-16E/Fs were divided into three twin aircraft formations, two of which went out in front and one on standby in the rear.

Of course, the task of these fighters is not to destroy Pakistan's air defenses, but to suppress, to be precise, interference.

The attack was divided into 2 formations of 8 F-35AIs.

As with the Indian Air Force's previous tactics, the F-35AI flies at ultra-low altitudes and remains silent throughout the process, receiving only information from fighters in the rear.

To put it simply, their mission is to fly to the designated place to drop the bomb and then return home.

In order to open the way for the follow-up attack, the 8 F-35AIs of these 2 formations have to deal with two sets of HQ-9B air defense systems deployed in the northwest and southwest of Fort ***.

Of course, the Pakistan Air Force is also very cooperative.

When the Indian Air Force's large fleet of aircraft attacked, the two HQ-9Bs were put into combat readiness, and the long-range air alert and search radars began to work.

Although air combat is carried out outside the range of missiles, as part of the air defense system, the HQ-9B is tasked with guiding the target of the fighter, to be precise, reducing the combat burden of the ZDK-05 and allowing the ZDK-05 to concentrate on guiding and directing the fighter in combat.

It can be seen that this is the power of system operations.

In a complete combat system, any one component is valuable, and none of them is essential.

Theoretically, an ideal combat system does not have any key platforms, so when attacked, it will not be completely paralyzed because the key platforms are destroyed.

Pakistan has been working in this direction since it adopted the concept of combat systems and built its military forces in accordance with this concept.

ZDK-05 is important, but not irreplaceable.

The HQ-9B is also important, and again, it is not irreplaceable.

In the early stage, everything went well.

It's just that shortly after entering Pakistani airspace, the F-35AI of 2 formations was intercepted almost simultaneously.

Discovered!?

How can it be!?

You know, the F-16E/F has been jamming the radar of the HQ-9B, and the ZDK-05 has been guiding air combat, and it is impossible to detect the F-35AI flying at ultra-low altitudes.

It's just that the F-35AI fleet was indeed attacked.

In less than 3 minutes, at least 3 F-35AIs were shot down, and the other 5 were also locked by radar, which may not be able to avoid the incoming anti-aircraft missiles.

More importantly, anti-aircraft missiles came from above.

That is, it was the HQ-9B that was attacking the F-35AI.

The question is, neither HQ-9B uses fire control radars, only long-range air alert and search radars are working, and how can they guide the missiles to attack?

Soon, the Indian Air Force confirmed that 5 F-35AIs were shot down and another 3 dropped bombs in advance.

What should I do?

You must know that the 12 F-35AIs that are responsible for the second round of attacks, that is, to bomb strategic targets in Fort ***, are on their way to the theater of operations.

According to the plan, the 12 F-35AIs will start attacking in half an hour.

Believing that they could destroy the HQ-9B, all 12 F-35AIs flew at medium and high altitudes, and all of them were on a course approaching from the southeast.

At this height, it is easy to be detected by radar.

Cancel the crackdown?

It's still too late, but the last chance will be lost.

In a pinch, the Indian Air Force chose to continue.

Of course, tactical adjustments had to be made to allow the F-35 AI fleet to penetrate from ultra-low altitudes.

In any case, the HQ-9B had to be avoided in the first place.

It's just that what happened next made the Indian Air Force unable to figure it out.

After entering Pakistani airspace, 12 F-35AIs in 3 formations were first attacked by anti-aircraft missiles, and at least 4 were shot down on the spot.

Immediately afterwards, the JF-20 fighter jets of the Pakistan Air Force arrived.

These fighters, also covered by electronic warfare aircraft, to be precise, JF-20EP, made the Indian fighters who went to intercept them at a loss.

The remaining F-35AI can only drop the bomb in advance and meet the JF-20 fleet.

Fall back?

It's too late.

You must know that the F-35AI is at low altitudes, while the JF-20 is at medium and high altitudes, just the difference in altitude makes it difficult for the F-35AI to get rid of the JF-20 smoothly.

Not to mention, the F-35AI is much slower than the JF-20.

The battle lasted just over ten minutes, and 3 more F-35AIs were shot down.

By the time the remaining five F-35AIs flew back into Indian airspace, the JF-20s were also withdrawn.

At this point, the counterattack operation, which was carefully planned and prepared by the Indian Air Force to regain the initiative, came to an end and ended in a crushing defeat.