Simulating contemporary combat scenarios: Pakistan, China hold aerial exercise

ISLAMABAD: In a bid to further strengthen its capabilities for defending the country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has held an aerial exercise conducted “separately” with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), said the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Tuesday.

The military’s media wing said that Indus Shield-Chinese, a bilateral module of Exercise Indus Shield 2024, concluded at an operational air base of the PAF and featured Chinese personnel and high-tech equipment simulating contemporary aerial combat scenarios.

The exercise witnessed Chinese AESA radar and long-range BVR missile equipped J-16 and J-10C fighter aircraft, lethal HQ-22 surface-to-air defence system, potent airborne electronic Warfare YTG-9 Platform, alongside KJ-500 Airborne Early Warning System being pitched against PAF’s J-10C and JF-17 Block-III fighter jets.

“The successful execution of such a large-scale exercise demonstrates PAF’s joint operational readiness among allied nations while addressing contemporary security challenges,” read the ISPR’s statement. The exercise was aimed at validating interoperability between China and Pakistan in the face of contemporary air combat challenges and by simulating various military tactics in near-realistic multi-domain operations training environment.

The Indus Shield-Chinese has maximised the war-fighting potential of both the participating air forces, added the statement, noted the ISPR. The exercise comes as the three branches of the country’s armed forces often hold exercises along with their counterparts from various other countries.

Last month, Pakistan and Russia held two-week-long bilateral exercise titled Joint Exercise Druzhba-VII which aimed at refining professional skills through joint training besides harnessing the historic military-to-military relations among the friendly countries.

Before that, a Pakistan Navy Ship (PNS) participated in a bilateral exercise at the Arabian Sea with US Navy Ship USS O’Kane during the latter’s visit to Karachi.