Ankara, Turkey – After years of rumors, the state-controlled Chinese Central Television (CCTV) broadcaster has confirmed reports that the Chengdu J-10CE fighter aircraft operated by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) won a series of victories in simulated air-to-air engagements against the Qatar Emiri Air Force. The Qataris were operating their export versions of the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft in these exercises.
These combat drills, now being revealed, reportedly took place in January 2024 and resulted in a 9-0 score for the Chinese-made single-engine jet.
People’s Republic of China (PRC) media have not given an official label for the engagements, but media outlets in Pakistan have since extensively reported that these were the Zilzal-II training exercises.
J-10CE Fighter. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
J-10 Fighter From China. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
J-10. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
It bears mentioning that this set of victories over the four-nation consortium-produced Eurofighter came almost 18 months before PAF J-10CEs experienced their first high-intensity combat exchanges in combat at long range against the Indian Air Force (IAF) in May 2025.
The Chinese aircraft are thought to have downed one of the IAF’s French-made Dassault Rafale fighters, along with several other Indian-operated combat jets.
The Rafale and Eurofighter were developed in almost the same timeline, although the latter had a considerably longer cycle from development to test to initial operating capability (IOC).
This is largely due to the internal constraints and other delays in the testing and validation phases caused by having four partner nations – each with its own flight test center – a former test pilot for the program told National Security Journal.
How Did the Eurofighter Typhoon Lose to the J-10CE?
Qatar operates the most advanced variants of the Eurofighter – either the Tranche 3A or the Tranche 4. These are significantly more advanced than the versions flown by the European partner nations that initially developed the program.
One of the chief mysteries about the lopsided results from these engagements is that the Qatari aircraft are flying with the latest Captor-E Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar. This should have permitted the Eurofighters to detect and fire on the J-10CE at much longer ranges, beyond visual range – meaning victory should have been theirs before the Chinese aircraft could even see the European platform in their radars.
However, the J-10CE may have achieved a total victory in its combat simulations against the Qataris due to the simple reality that the PRC is simply out-funding and committing far more resources to developing its combat aviation designs.
The PRC is also becoming more known for making investments in its aerospace and defense electronics sectors that the Europeans even collectively possibly lack the ability to match.
“It is not the actual aircraft themselves that makes a difference,” said a PRC aviation specialist based in the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan. “The J-10CE is really an older 4th-generation design and the Eurofighter is about a 4+-generation in these latest Tranche configurations. But, what the Chengdu design team and their partners at CETC are developing in on-board systems could be outperforming the European technology in the newer, two-engine Eurofighter,” he explained.
Ahead in the Race
The PRC Chengdu and Shenyang design teams sent ripples through the international defense world when they unveiled two new 6th- generation fighter prototypes in December 2024.
More than 18 months later, it is now assessed that Beijing’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) could eventually be flying these advanced designs ahead of everyone else, more than a decade before the US or the Europeans have completed development and testing of their own analogous programs.
The various European defense firms are also falling behind, as they have yet to develop even a 5th-generation fighter design. Most of the European nations that are seeking that capability have instead opted to purchase the US F-35.
That technological gap between the Europeans and the PRC is only destined to widen unless the former prove they can make substantial progress in a short period, meaning before the calendar reaches 2030.
Analysts of current combat aviation technology point out that the Eurofighter has yet to beat the F-35 in any competition, a telling disparity that Europe will have to close in the coming years if it is to remain relevant in this market.
Eurofigther Typhoon: A Collection of Photos of the Famous Fighter
Eurofighter Typhoon Upgrade. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Eurofighter Typhoon on the Runway. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Eurofighter Typhoon Fighter Training. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
A Eurofighter Typhoon with the Spanish Air Force based out of Morón Air Base, Spain, refuels from a KC-130J Hercules, a first for the Marines from Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response-Africa, Aug. 13, in Spain. The U.S. and Spain have been fostering one of the closest defense partnerships around the world for more than 60 years. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Vitaliy Rusavskiy/Released)
Eurofighter Typhoon Training in Sky. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson has thirty-six years of experience analyzing and reporting on foreign weapons systems, defense technologies, and international arms export policy. Johnson is the Director of Research at the Casimir Pulaski Foundation. He is also a survivor of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He worked for years in the American defense industry as a foreign technology analyst and later as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Departments of the Navy and Air Force, and the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia. In 2022-2023, he won two awards in a row for his defense reporting. He holds a bachelor’s degree from DePauw University and a master’s degree from Miami University in Ohio, specializing in Soviet and Russian studies. He lives in Warsaw.
CORRECTION: At the end of the second sentence, a period was missed and has since been fixed.
