During the celebration of the anniversary of the birth of the founding father Jinnah, the Pakistan Air Force produced a documentary called "Pakistan Air Force Towards Modernization", which showed the country the level of modernization of its air power. In the documentary, various advanced equipment of the Pakistan Air Force were unveiled, including the "Thunder 3" and J-10CP fighters imported from China, as well as drones such as the Pterodactyl-2, Raider, and Flag Bearer TB-2. The documentary also shows Pakistan's self-developed cruise missiles, new air-to-air missiles, precision-guided munitions and other airborne **.
This documentary has attracted the attention of India, and some of them have revealed a feeling of "envy and jealousy" in their reports, because many of the equipment displayed by the Pakistan Air Force is not available in the Indian army. For example, the Pterodactyl-2, TB-2 UAVs, the Indian army does not have similar products and has no plans to buy them from abroad. For another example, cruise missiles, long-range air-to-air missiles, and precision-guided munitions, the Indian army also lacks sufficient inventory and research and development capabilities.
However, India's attention to the Pakistani Air Force only stays at the surface of the "skin", and does not see the "bones" behind it. The real strength of the Pakistan Air Force is not only these combat aircraft and **, but also a series of strategic support equipment, which are the "force multipliers" of the Pakistani army. Among them, the most representative is the air early warning aircraft and over-the-horizon radar imported from China, which can effectively improve the air situational awareness and command and control capabilities of the Pakistani army.
At the Zhuhai Airshow in November this year, China unveiled the SLC-18 space target surveillance active phased array radar, an advanced radar capable of detecting targets in Earth orbit at an altitude of 2,000 kilometers. This radar is capable of monitoring and tracking not only multiple low-Earth orbit satellites, but also intercontinental and long-range ballistic missiles. This radar is an export product and is likely to be purchased by Pakistan.
India** has also taken note of the intelligence of the SLC-18 space radar, because this radar poses a great threat to India, it can effectively track Indian satellites, and at the same time can restrain India's long-range ballistic missiles and weaken India's nuclear strike capability. In addition, Pakistan has already purchased China's Hongqi-9 missile defense system, which, if combined with the technology of the SLC-18 space radar, will further enhance the strategic missile defense capability of the Pakistani military. In contrast, India has a big gap with Chinese products in the field of radar technology, there are no products of the same level and no effective means of countermeasures.
In fact, India also has phased array radar technology, and through the introduction of technology from Israel and other countries, it has been able to manufacture some land-based, sea-based, and air-based active phased array radars for use in India's early warning aircraft, air defense destroyers, and "Tej" fighter jets. However, India's radar technology is limited by the lack of industrial base and R&D capabilities, and it is better to rely on Chinese technology than the Pakistan Air Force.
What's more, the Indian Air Force does not seem to realize the importance of radar and electronics, which are "combat multipliers", not "ornaments". The Indian Air Force spends a lot of money on beautiful-looking combat aircraft such as Rafale, Tejour, and Su-30, while ignoring the construction of strategic support forces such as early warning aircraft and electronic warfare aircraft, not to mention "black technology" such as the SLC-18 space radar. In general, the Indian army has not yet formed the thinking of "systematic combat", is still playing "beast chess", and is still relatively single in performance, but has not seen the real power of "Chinese style".
This also partly explains why some India** have a complex psychology of "envy, jealousy and hatred" towards some advanced ** in Pakistan. However, the mainstream in India is still concerned about a few stars, or a single performance discussed, or addicted to "beast chess", or has no clear understanding of "system combat", and naturally cannot feel the true power of "Chinese-style".