After the Indian military is preparing $25 billion and ordering 114 Army F-4 fighters, the Indian Ministry of Defense is evaluating a huge defense program of 140 Su-57 hidden fighters.
According to The Print, India is preparing to order two Su-57 shuttle fighter jets, and will work with Russia to produce five Su-57 shuttle fighter jets at the Nashik plant at Hindistan Airlines Limited (HAL).
Butterfly could not expect things to be so severe, and India would need to develop a large air force group to overwhelm the Pakistani air force.
The India-Pakistan air battle on May 7, 2025 has still been repeatedly discussed by the military circle as a typical case of "defeating more with less". Early that morning, the Indian Air Force first dispatched three Rafale fighter jets in an attempt to break through Pakistani airspace to conduct reconnaissance on border targets. Unexpectedly, as soon as they crossed the control line, they were targeted by 20 J-10CE fighter jets already deployed by Pakistan.
The Pakistani pilots, with the flexible mobility of the 10CE, combined with long-range, high-precision Uranium-15 air-to-air missiles, in just a dozen minutes shot down 2 aircraft, the third aircraft, although it managed to escape, but also caused damage to the aircraft's wings at the time of return.
After the incident, the Indian military mouth hard, to the outside claimed to "destroy Pakistan's 6 military aircraft", can not even get the complete debris of the aircraft - the US satellite was exactly monitored to the air war area, the final published verification results showed that Pakistan lost only one drone, India's so-called "war fruit" is purely manufactured.
Even more striking, after the French engineers in charge of the sale of wind fighter jets arrived in India, it was confirmed that the shot down wind fighter jets were indeed the key parts hit by uranium-15 missiles, which completely established India's disaster.
But this defeat did not calm India, but instead made them red eyes, one thought to use the money to expand the army to find their face.
Shortly afterwards, India announced that it would raise $25 billion and order 114 of its latest F-4s, followed by reports that the Ministry of Defense was evaluating a larger plan – to purchase 140 Su-57s, not only to buy two squadrons directly from Russia, but also to work with Russia to produce five squadrons of Su-57s at the Nasik plant at Hindustan Airlines (HAL).
This series of moves at first glance seemed as if India was about to form an air force group that could crush Pakistan, but these plans were filled with insupportable gaps.
First of all, the production capacity of the Su-57 has been a big problem over the years - four months before 2024, Russia itself delivered two Su-57s, and the passing rate of body strength tests just exceeded 50%, even the Russian Aerospace Force itself did not dare to load a lot.
Not to mention the cost of the Su-57 single-engine has soared to $1.75 billion, more expensive than the US F-35, the stock of parts in Russia is not enough to fulfill the prior and Algeria signed orders, where is the excess production capacity to meet the demand of India?
Looking at India's own production capacity, the reputation of HAL factories has long stinked in the international military industry. India previously asked HAL to assemble Su-30MKI fighter jets. It originally planned to produce 18 aircraft per year, but the actual annual output did not even reach 10 aircraft. Moreover, the assembled fighter jets continued to suffer from problems, either due to insufficient engine thrust or avionics system failure. Two or three have to be dropped every year.
Now to let HAL chew the hard bones of such a hidden fighter aircraft, let alone mass production, it is estimated that even the most basic hidden coating process cannot be mastered - Russian engineers privately chew, "HAL Li-Sui 30 body welding can't meet the standards, the hidden design of the Su57 they can't grasp at all."
As for the F-4, it is not the perfect equipment.After the air war, the Indian Air Force itself acknowledged that there were problems with light weight, small radar size and limited range.
In air combat, the Rafale's radar detection range was nearly 80 kilometers shorter than that of the J-10CE. Before the J-10CE was discovered, it was already locked by the opponent.
And the load of the army is not as much as the 10CE, the continued operational ability is poor, even if India really bought 114 aircraft, it is not possible to make up for the quality gap by quantity.
In the beginning, Pakistan may be a little nervous because of India's expansion plans, but after seeing these realities, there is also a bottom in the mind - India's military deterrence, more is the false sound after the hurry, can not withstand the test of real war.
Not to mention the way, India is a country with nuclear weapons, once the conflict escalated, it is absolutely not as simple as fighting aircraft beating each other. said this 5.7 air war, although it is only a small-scale conflict, but has caused 33 civilians to die, villages in the border area are bombed, farmland is fireplated, many people can only escape from the countryside to refugee camps.
If a full-scale war really broke out, the livelihoods in Kashmir would only be worse—electricity shutdowns, water pollution, food shortages—and it is not known how many people would be displaced.
At the same time, India’s $25 billion in military procurement has already accounted for a third of India’s annual defense budget.
To know, India’s educational budget last year is also more than $16 billion, the medical budget is still less than $12 billion, put so much money into the procurement of warplanes, domestic education and medical care can only be affected – now many rural areas of India do not have even decent classrooms, hospitals even basic emergency equipment are lacking, but the government can not get money to improve, instead to borrow money to buy warplanes, which will only make India’s fiscal deficit worse.
Pakistan's situation is not much better. Although its military strength is not as good as India's, it has to upgrade its equipment in order to protect itself.
Pakistan now still has a lot of foreign debt, the annual debt repayment will spend about 8% of GDP, if the money is invested in the arms race, the domestic people's livelihood project will only stop.
At that time, young people in Pakistan will not find work, the people will not have even basic livelihoods, and the whole country will be in trouble.
If India is abducted by the arms race and has been wasting money to buy warplanes and mass production, Pakistan can only hardly follow in order not to be repressed.
In this way, the two sides will fall into a vicious circle of "India's military expansion → Pakistan's follow-up → India's military expansion again", and the already tense economy will only make insult to injury. Moreover, passive peace can't solve the fundamental problem at all. The knot in the hearts of both sides is still there. Maybe one day, the conflict will break out again because of a trivial matter, and the price paid will only be greater than it is now.
In the final analysis, taking the initiative to return peacefully is the only option that can avoid heavy costs for both sides. In fact, on May 10, the third day after the air battle, India and Pakistan had reached a ceasefire agreement-India did not dare to send military aircraft to invade Pakistani airspace again, and Pakistan deliberately controlled the intensity of the counterattack and did not make a big fuss. This shows that both sides actually have no intention of expanding the conflict, but just need a step down.
The international community has also been calling on both sides to resolve the issue through dialogue, and the UN Secretary-General has also sent special envoys to the Kashmir region in the hope of facilitating negotiations between the two sides.
India's so-called "large air force group" is both difficult to land and consuming national strength, and Pakistan's defense system composed of the J-10CE and the Qingdao fighter aircraft is also sufficient to deal with real threats, rather than consuming each other in military confrontation, rather than actively sitting at the negotiating table.
The two sides can start by resolving the Kashmir issue, such as defining clear control lines, setting up non-military zones in border areas, reducing the confrontation between the two armies, and then talking about arms control, such as agreeing on the number of aircraft and missiles, to avoid falling into the arms race.
After all, whether it is India or Pakistan, the people want a stable life, not every day to worry about the outbreak of war.
Only by actively seeking peace and resolving contradictions through dialogue can both countries escape the shadow of conflict and real stability and development in the region.
Source of information:
The Paper-India plans to purchase 140 Russian Su-57 stealth fighters to completely upgrade its combat capabilities