第三部分英文原文

Breaking the news
News on this clash broke in Europe later that day (May 7) when the ISPR held a press conference.

The PAF’s Deputy Chief of Air Staff (DCAS Operations) and Director General Public Relations (DGPR) took much of the world by surprise, when they claimed the PAF had shot down five IAF fighters. These included three, later increased to four, extremely capable 4.5-generation Rafales fitted with the cutting-edge Thales Spectra electronic warfare systems. The air-to-air kills were backed up by images from social media accounts and included GPS co-ordinates of where they crashed.

As the PAF’s DCAS Ops disclosed at the press conference, attended by both local and international media, the IAF were continuously scrambling their fighters in the early hours, to reinforce and saturate the air defence. “Our strategy was to have force concentration in our selected AORs and fight to our own strength. “Once they saw our numbers, the IAF fighters launched their ground weapons, and we identified them. As soon as this happened, the Chief changed the rules of engagement from ‘deter’ to ‘sure kill’.

“We targeted the Rafales, because the IAF had always said they would make ‘the difference’.”

The DCAS (Ops) talked with the aid of a screen at the conference about the losses and the locations where they were shot down. The PAF had tapped into IAF Rafale communications, and listened to a four-ship ‘Godzilla 1-4’ formation in panic and distress, having discovered one of the French jets was missing.

He ran the recordings to assembled media, which was quite startling at the time, but it seems the Rafale pilots were mistakenly talking on an open frequency rather than a secure one. During the stand-off, the PAF identified 14 Rafales within the 72 aircraft, through its electronic intelligence systems, and then targeted them.

The PAF also struck the radar in the northern ICCS (Integrated Command and Control Centre) at Barnala which effectively stopped all communications between the IAF leadership and their fighters.

The Indian military fired Brahmos air/surface-to-ground missiles capable of speeds of 3,000km/h (1,900mph) one after the other. I was told by the PAF there had been ‘soft kills’ and ‘hard kills’ by the Brahmos. There is some suggestion the PAF jammed the Brahmos frequencies but no one would confirm this. During the press briefing, the PAF spokesperson showed the radar signatures of the Brahmos on the screen, which he said missed targets and flew into Afghanistan. After 52 minutes, the IAF fighters fled back to their bases, outwitted by the PAF. A senior officer, told the author: “The Rafale is potent enough, and while we initially declared we had shot down three, BS001 [17 Sqn], BS022, BS027 [both 101 Sqn], we also had it confirmed by HUMINT [human intelligence] in mid-July that BS021 [from 101 Sqn] had been confirmed as shot down, over Srinagar.” The author understands another four aircraft have not returned to the flightline. The PAF has their tail numbers, because they know from their electronic intelligence the jets that were badly damaged. They are endeavouring to confirm from OSINT/ HUMINT. The PAF refrained from attacking further than 2,000km (1,250 miles) away because it felt it could start an all-out war.