Wake-up call West gets a glimpse of China's growing military might

As India and Pakistan traded missile strikes and the world watched with horror as the two nuclear-armed neighbours erupted into open conflict, military analysts spotted something curious. Pakistan, it seemed, had used Chinese jets to shoot down India's planes.

- Helen Davidson Amy Hawkins

Last week, India launched missiles at Pakistan in retaliation for a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir in April that killed 26 people. The conflict escalated with mutual strikes and drone attacks.

Pakistan claimed to have shot down several Indian fighter jets with Chinese missiles fired from Chinese-made J-10C jets. The Pakistani foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, told parliament the Pakistani-flown fighters had taken down India's French-made Rafales. Dar said he had informed the Chinese and they were pleased. China's social media celebrated.

The use of J-10Cs by Pakistan would mark the first time the Chinese planes, and the PL-15 missiles they were carrying, have been used in combat, giving military analysts a rare glimpse of their capabilities and the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) a crucial test case.

Siemon Wezeman, a senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), said: "Any state producing or buying weapons is keen to see how the product does in real conflict."