EXTRA: The India-Pakistan Air Battle Where Neither Side Saw the Other
Two nuclear powers just fought the largest air battle of its kind since World War II. The outcome was not as expected.
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by Mark Deuce
May 21, 2025
India and Pakistan made history this month. They engaged in an air battle with some of the latest fighters and missiles that was the largest of its kind since the Second World War.
What made this battle even more unique was the fighting happened entirely in what we call “BVR” or “beyond-visual-range” combat.
This form of combat is rarely talked about because a lot of the tactics, techniques, and procedures are secret. Whereas traditional air-to-air “dog fighting” is based on maneuver and bringing the guns or short-range guided missiles of an aircraft to bear on the other first, BVR fighting pits aircraft radars and their guided missiles against enemy aircraft and their electronic counter-measures to those missiles at much longer ranges.
One side gets the other on their radar, establishes a constant track (i.e. a “lock”) and launches a missile to follow the target the radar selects. Once that happens, the targeted aircraft has some choices to make — fast.
Shoot back at them. This disrupts their attack, and is of course the whole point.
Outrun or outmaneuver the missile. Success depends on the range and agility of the missile and the relative flight paths and capabilities of the contestant aircraft. These include sudden turns and direction changes to keep their Doppler radar from spotting you. Missiles are getting more agile and can pull far harder turns than a human pilot can withstand. But fighter jets are fast and a missile only carries so much fuel before it burns out and coasts; losing energy the whole time. Woe to slower and less maneuverable aircraft.
Hide from the missile. Disappear into the radar ground clutter generated by terrain and all the “stuff” you see outside your window. But unless the missile’s line of sight is blocked, they are getting harder to fool. They can even “re-acquire” the target if it drops lock, sometimes, and one pays a tactical price for losing altitude and running while your opponent pushes the attack. Speed and altitude are still life.
Decoy the missile. These can be towed decoys from the targeted aircraft that messes up its radar signature, or independently launched decoys.
Confuse or jam the missile, or the hostile aircraft launching it. Use electronic countermeasures on the aircraft to broadcast interference to the missile’s seeker; with advantage to who’s got the newer or better gear. It also helps to know how the hostile missile transmits and receives signals. Expendable “chaff”, or metal-coated filaments of nylon, generates false echoes when an aircraft spits it out in clouds. This can confuse a missile or radar, depending on the missile and the target’s maneuvering behavior. Keeping the enemy radars or missiles from knowing you are there to start with is another goal of jamming.
Get/have support from dedicated electronic warfare aircraft. The U.S. Navy’s EA-18 “Growler” jet dumps a short ton of electronic snow in the processors of hostile radars and missiles and destroys transmitters. There are other such aircraft out there.
Do everything covered in 1 through 6, and fast. All of these steps work together.
Also, the “stealth” features on the latest aircraft, such as the Rafale, help you not only avoid detection longer, but use any electronic defenses you have with more effect. It’s usually hard to completely keep an aircraft from being detected. But there is a difference between them being able to see you and being able to shoot you.
On the other side of it, certain things give warplanes advantages in BVR fighting:
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