A Chinese-manufactured Pakistani fighter jet, the J-10, successfully shot down at least two Indian military aircraft on Wednesday, according to two U.S. officials who spoke to Reuters. The incident marks a significant milestone for China’s advanced combat aviation technology and is drawing intense global scrutiny, particularly from Washington, which is assessing how Chinese airpower might perform in potential conflicts in Taiwan or the broader Indo-Pacific region.
The Indian Air Force declined to comment on the Reuters report. However, local Indian authorities earlier confirmed that three Indian aircraft were downed, though this is the first acknowledgment from Western sources that Pakistan’s Chinese-made jets played a direct role.
Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif confirmed to Reuters that the Chinese-origin J-10 fighter jets were responsible for downing three of India’s French-made Rafale jets during the confrontation. In total, Islamabad claims its air force downed five Indian aircraft in air-to-air combat during the escalation.
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The Rafale and the J-10 (specifically the variant used by Pakistan) are both classified as generation 4.5 fighter jets—placing them among the most advanced non-stealth aircraft currently in service. The live combat use of these platforms is of great interest to military analysts worldwide, who are keen to study the performance of high-end weaponry under real conflict conditions.
Douglas Barrie, senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), noted that air warfare experts across China, the U.S., and Europe are now carefully analyzing the confrontation. “Everyone will be looking for hard facts—what systems were used, what worked, what failed—especially as this may shape future air combat strategies,” he said.
Meanwhile, calls for de-escalation continue from global powers including the United States, Russia, and China, all of whom are urging restraint in one of the most volatile nuclear flashpoints on the planet.
In France, Dassault Aviation (the manufacturer of Rafale) and MBDA (maker of the Meteor air-to-air missile) could not be reached for comment due to a national holiday.
