After Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations released a nationalistic song marking the anniversary of Operation Swift Retort in 2019, Air Commodore Nouman Ali Khan claimed Pakistan’s J-10C fighter jets surpass India’s Rafale jets. In a news interview, he emphasized that while India has been deploying Rafale jets, Pakistan has operationalized the J-10C, which shares similar capabilities. He noted significant advancements in the Pakistan Air Force, including unmanned aerial systems, and praised their world-class training standards. Khan also stated Pakistan’s air defense network has become increasingly sophisticated since the 2019 conflict, portraying Pakistan as a responsible actor in military engagements.
Just a few days after Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations unveiled a fervently nationalistic song commemorating the anniversary of Operation Swift Retort in 2019—which featured Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who was captured at the time—Pakistan Air Force pilot Air Commodore Nouman Ali Khan asserted that Pakistan’s J-10C fighter jets surpass India’s Rafale fighters.
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In an interview with a Pakistani news channel, Air Commodore Khan responded to questions regarding India’s acquisition of Rafale jets by highlighting that while India has been integrating and operationalizing these fighter jets, Pakistan, in turn, has acquired and put into service a “superior platform” in the form of the J-10C. “We not only inducted them, we made them operational,” he informed the news channel.
The Rafale, a 4.5 generation combat aircraft, features twin engines, a delta wing design, and is a multirole fighter capable of reaching speeds of Mach 1.8 with a combat radius exceeding 1000 km. Similarly, the Chengdu J-10C, also a twin-engine, delta wing, multirole fighter, matches this capability, being regarded as a 4.5-generation aircraft as well.
Air Commodore Khan noted a significant increase in the induction rates of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) over the past three years, stating that this growth has not only occurred in the fighter jets sector but also in the unmanned aerial systems domain.
He claimed that the training standards within the PAF are of world-class caliber, asserting that the events of 2019, which he views as a setback for India, demonstrate that “the more rigorous your training, the less you will suffer in conflicts.”
Furthermore, Air Commodore Khan indicated that Pakistan’s air defense network is “very very sophisticated,” stating, “it was sophisticated in 2019, and it is even more sophisticated now.” He expressed that Pakistan acted as a “responsible state” during the downing of two Indian jets in February 2019 by minimizing the damage caused.