The S-400 system is not only about shooting enemy planes from the skies. It is about giving trans-border visibility up to a depth of nearly 300 kilometers into the enemy plain territory. With Rafale and S-400 under its belt, the Indian Air Force is by far the most advanced air force in the sub-continent and can even challenge China.
After Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan returned from China, the acquisition of 50 JF-17 Block-III fighters by Islamabad is being pitched to take on India’s S-400 air defense system due to its stealth characteristics. This is nothing but domestic prejudice on part of Pakistan which is totally devoid of facts.
The airframe of Block-III single-engine JF-17 fighter is said to be built with composite material to give its stealth features required to evade the air defense system of the adversary and target high-value assets. Even the indigenous Tejas fighter has 45 percent composite material but does that mean that it can take on two S-400 systems which the Chinese PLA have deployed across Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh respectively? The JF-17 is powered by the same Russian RD-33 engine, which is used by Indian MiG-29 air defense fighters and often suffers flame-outs.
JF – 17
The S-400 system is not only about shooting enemy planes from the skies. It denies the PAF Trans frontier visibility by pushing his AWACS and Strategic Recce Systems (F 16 with DB 110 Recce Pod) back. This means that Pakistan Air Force cannot fly its airborne early warning systems and deep penetration radars as the S-400 missiles will take them down in the event of hostilities. As a result of which the Pakistani JF -17 fighters will be fighting without the support of AWACS and dated Chinese radars. The only exception to this scenario is high mountain terrain which is present only in union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Rafale and S-400
Why Is Pakistan So Worried About S-400?
Russia started the delivery of the first batch of S-400 ‘Triumf’ systems to India in November last year, following which the air defense systems were stationed in the northern state of Punjab bordering Pakistan. These surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) will be made operational by April.
Previous reports said the S-400 SAM batteries were moved to one of the five IAF bases in the state as well as somewhere close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de facto border with China. India and China have remained entangled in a border dispute for almost 22 months now, which is unlikely to end anytime soon despite several rounds of talks.
