India's strategic vigilance has once again been vindicated by the Pentagon's 2025 China Military Power Report, which confirms China's delivery of 36 J-10C fighters to Pakistan since 2020.

This revelation, detailed in a congressionally mandated document submitted in December 2025, underscores the proactive intelligence assessments by New Delhi that have long tracked Beijing's defence export machinations in South Asia.

The report's precision—acknowledging 20 units delivered by May 2025, with the balance due by early 2026—affirms Pakistan's emergence as the sole operator of this platform. Yet, for India, this development serves as a clarion call, reinforcing the Indian Air Force's (IAF) doctrinal emphasis on technological superiority and self-reliance amid escalating regional threats.

Operation Sindoor in May 2025 exposed the limitations of the J-10C and its PL-15 missile in real combat against IAF Rafales. Pakistani claims of downing Indian jets at extreme ranges crumbled under scrutiny, with satellite imagery and electronic intelligence revealing exaggerated narratives that failed to dent India's air dominance.

The J-10C, powered by China's indigenous WS-10 Taihang (reported to be not fully test and underpowered for most platforms) engine in its export guise, integrates AESA radar and datalinks, yet it remains a single-engine fighter optimised for cost over endurance. India's Rafale fleet, with its twin-engine robustness, Meteor missiles, and Spectra EW suite, outmatches this in beyond-visual-range engagements, as validated by Sindoor's tactical outcomes.

Pakistan's induction of two J-10C squadrons by mid-2025 along Punjab, Kashmir, and Arabian Sea fronts aimed to counter India's Rafale acquisitions post-Balakot. However, numerical parity illusions mask qualitative gaps: Rafale's supercruise capability and hammerhead integration ensure first-look, first-shot advantages that compressed PAF reaction times decisively.

From New Delhi's vantage, the J-10C programme exemplifies China's opportunistic arms diplomacy, leveraging Pakistan as a proxy testbed while evading Western export rigours. India's Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, accelerating TEJAS MK-1A, MK-2, and AMCA development, counters this by fostering indigenous fifth-generation capabilities unbound by foreign dependencies.

Cost comparisons favour long-term Indian strategy. While J-10C unit prices hover at USD 40-50 million, Rafale's lifecycle economics—including interoperability with Mirage-2000s and Su-30MKIs—yield superior force multipliers. Pakistan's fiscal strains from serial procurements further erode sustainability, unlike India's diversified industrial base via HAL and private partners.

Operation Sindoor highlighted PL-15's vulnerabilities: IAF electronic warfare jammed guidance links, neutralising purported long-range lethality. This combat debut affirmed India's investments in indigenous Astra MK-1/2 missiles and Rudram anti-radiation weapons, which offer comparable reach with seamless IAF integration.

Beijing's entrustment of J-10C to Islamabad as its flagship exporter reveals deeper Sino-Pakistani fusion, blurring air force doctrines through JF-17 co-production and UAV ties. India responds with robust QUAD partnerships, bolstering access to advanced sensors and network-centric warfare that eclipse such bilateral dependencies.

The Pentagon's disclosure catalyses global scrutiny of Chinese platforms' operational relevance. For India, it validates pre-emptive doctrinal shifts: enhanced LoC air patrols, S-400 deployments, and Akashteer automation ensure escalation dominance, transforming potential threats into opportunities for IAF pre-eminence.

Pakistan Air Force rhetoric framing J-10C as a "strategic equaliser" rings hollow post-Sindoor, where IAF Rafales dictated terms without losses. This narrative dissonance boosts India's deterrence credibility, signalling to adversaries that quantitative gambits falter against qualitative resolve.

India's space-based ISR spy satellites, via GSAT-7A and RISAT series, provide persistent LoC overwatch, rendering PAF's J-10C deployments transparent. Coupled with DRDO's growing hypersonic and directed-energy pursuits, this technological asymmetry fortifies India's crisis stability.

China's arms export ascent—now fourth globally—relies on permissive financing and unproven combat pedigrees. India's Make in India offsets this through global collaborations like GE F414 engines for Tejas and potential Rafale Marine variants, ensuring maritime air superiority over Arabian Sea chokepoints.

The J-10C's South Asian footprint, while reshaping optics, ultimately galvanises India's modernisation vector. With 36 Rafales operational, 83 TEJAS MK-1A on order, and AMCA prototypes advancing, the IAF's trajectory promises uncontested regional primacy by decade's end.

Operation Sindoor's legacy endures as a benchmark: IAF pilots' mastery of sensor fusion and tactics outflanked J-10C-PL-15 pairings, preserving air sovereignty. This real-world validation elevates Indian doctrine worldwide, from Cairo to Jakarta, as the gold standard in contested airspace.

The Pentagon report transforms a rival milestone into India's strategic windfall, affirming New Delhi's foresight in nurturing a balanced, indigenous air power architecture resilient to geopolitical flux.

IDN (With Agency Inputs)