In a statement issued on Monday, China’s State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense said the J-10CE’s battlefield performance demonstrated its operational effectiveness in real combat conditions outside China.
The Chinese defence authority said the exported J-10CE achieved its first combat victory abroad by downing multiple aircraft without incurring losses.
The confirmation comes after the brief but intense Pakistan-India military confrontation in May, during which air power played a central role. Pakistan has previously said that its air force downed several Indian aircraft during the escalation, while China’s acknowledgement highlights the growing credibility of its defence exports and Pakistan’s reliance on advanced Chinese military technology.
According to the US Department of War, Pakistan is currently the only country operating the Chinese-built J-10C fighter jet. The report said that as of May 2025, 20 additional aircraft were delivered to Pakistan, increasing the Pakistan Air Force’s J-10CE fleet to 36 jets since 2020.
China’s state news agency Xinhua described the J-10CE as an all-weather, single-engine, single-seat, multi-role fighter jet independently developed to meet modern aerial warfare requirements.
Chinese defence officials said the combat outcome reflected both the aircraft’s reliability and competitiveness. They added that the J-10CE’s combat success abroad demonstrated its practicality and usability, highlighted its competitiveness against similar foreign equipment, and promoted Chinese aviation products in the international market.
Pakistan has said that during the May confrontation it shot down seven Indian fighter jets, including three French-made Rafale aircraft. The conflict followed an attack on civilians in Indian-occupied Kashmir, which India blamed on Pakistan, an allegation Islamabad rejected and for which it offered an independent investigation.
The four-day conflict marked the deadliest cross-border fighting since 2019, involving missile, drone and artillery strikes, before both sides agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire.
Addressing the United Nations General Assembly in September, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistani forces had reduced Indian aircraft to scrap and dust. India claimed it had shot down five Pakistani fighter jets, a claim Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif dismissed as comical.
Islamabad and Beijing remain long-term strategic allies, linked through close bilateral ties, deep defence cooperation and a shared commitment to regional stability.
