NEW DELHI, May 09 (Reuters): A dogfight between Chinese-made Pakistani jets and French-made Indian Rafale fighters will be closely scrutinised by militaries seeking insights that could offer an edge in future conflicts.
A Chinese-made Pakistani fighter plane shot down at least two Indian military aircraft on Wednesday, two US officials told Reuters, marking a potential major milestone for Beijing's advanced fighter jet.
The aerial clash is a rare opportunity for militaries to study the performance of pilots, fighter jets and air-to-air missiles in active combat, and use that knowledge to prepare their own air forces for battle.
Experts said the live use of advanced weapons would be analysed across the world, including in China and the United States which are both preparing for a potential conflict over Taiwan or in the wider Indo-Pacific region.
One US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters there was high confidence that Pakistan had used the Chinese-made J-10 aircraft to launch air-to-air missiles against Indian fighter jets.
Social media posts focused on the performance of China's PL-15 air-to-air missile against the Meteor, a radar-guided air-to-air missile produced by European group MBDA. There has been no official confirmation these weapons were used.
"Air warfare communities in China, the US and a number of European countries will be extremely interested to try and get as much ground truth as they can on tactics, techniques, procedures, what kit was used, what worked and what didn't," said Douglas Barrie, senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
"You have arguably China's most capable weapon against the West's most capable weapon, if indeed it was being carried; we don't know that," Barrie said.
The French and Americans would likely be hoping for similar intelligence from India, Barrie said.
"The PL-15 is a big problem. It is something that the US military pays a lot of attention to," a defence industry executive said.
Rafale manufacturer Dassault Aviation declined comment and the MBDA consortium could not immediately be reached for comment on a French public holiday.
Western analysts and industry sources said crucial details remained unclear including whether the Meteor was carried and the type and amount of training the pilots had received. Arms firms would also be anxious to separate technical performance from operational factors, analysts said.
Meanwhile, India's Supreme Court on Friday quashed a lower court ruling ordering online encyclopedia operator Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia, to remove a page describing its legal dispute with an Indian news agency.
Indian news agency ANI last year sued Wikimedia for defamation in the Delhi High Court over the way a Wikipedia page described the news agency. ANI said in its lawsuit it was being described on its Wikipedia page as an agency facing criticism for being a "propaganda tool" for the government.
Wikimedia, which has denied wrongdoing, was ordered by the High Court to take down another page describing the lawsuit.
The Supreme Court judges backed a legal challenge by Wikimedia, which had called that takedown order as one which would have a "chilling effect on free speech".
The Supreme Court said the takedown order was the result of the high court reacting "disproportionately."
