China Helping Pak Replace AWACS Aircraft India Shot Down In Op Sindoor? What Damage Did Operation Sindoor Inflict On Pakistan’s Air Force?

11th April 2026 at 5:25 PM

1 minute read

New Delhi : Pakistan seems to be still trying to recover from the damage caused by India. Pakistan is about to acquire China’s Shaanxi KJ-500, an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft. The KJ-500 is a modern airborne early warning aircraft designed to detect, track, and coordinate responses against aerial threats over long distances.

The initiative to get the KJ-500 aircraft forms part of a comprehensive defence package that China is providing to Pakistan, which also includes J-35A stealth fighters and HQ-19 air defence systems. The deal also includes advanced stealth, sensor fusion, and integration of HQ-19 systems to build a networked combat capability. According to Pakistani media, officials from China and Pakistan began formal negotiations for the AWACS aircraft in June 2025.

The new AWACS aircraft that Pakistan is buying from China can allow Pakistani officials to track aircraft, missiles, and drones much before coordinating interceptors as well as air defence missile batteries. Pakistan Air Force had the Saab Erieye-2000 AWACS aircraft, which, according to the Canada-based Eurasian Times, a Defence and Geopolitics news outlet, had been shot down by India. India launched Operation Sindoor on the night of May 7 against nine terrorist locations across Pakistan.

The operation was in retaliation against the Pahalgam terrorist attack that killed 26 in Jammu and Kashmir in April. “We struck a large number of their airfields, and we struck a large number of installations,” said IAF’s Air Chief Marshal. He also highlighted that the IAF had evidence of Pakistan’s one C-130 class of aircraft and at least four to five fighter aircraft, most likely F-16, destroyed.