Practically a 12 months after pitting its J-16 vs Rafale jets, Chinese language J-16 fighters drilled with the Egyptian Rafales in the course of the “Eagles of Civilization 2026” train.
Earlier, as EurAsian Instances reported, the mock train between J16 and Rafale was held in Xuchang, Henan province, and was a part of a broader Chinese language effort to advertise large-scale war-gaming—the primary of its sort at this scale this 12 months.
Beijing simulated a high-stakes air battle, pitting eight J-16 fighters towards six French-built Rafale jets, and surprisingly aired footage of the encounter.
Now, in the course of the “Eagles of Civilization 2026” train, Chinese language state media launched footage from the primary day of the joint coaching train, which commenced over the weekend. The video confirmed PLAAF J-16s training air warfare towards Egyptian MiG-29 and Rafale fighters in real-world eventualities.
Apparently, India operated each the Rafales and MiG-29s and used them in fight throughout Operation Sindoor towards Pakistan.
The 2 sides engaged in each beyond-visual-range (BVR) fight and dogfighting, based on the stories.
It was a uncommon alternative for China to familiarize itself with the Rafale fighter jets that its neighbor and “nemesis,” India, operates. Indonesia has additionally acquired the French jets within the Indo-Pacific area—it shares pleasant relations with Beijing and was even contemplating buying J-10C plane.
India has already acquired “closely custom-made” 36 Rafale jets; it plans to accumulate 114 F4/F5 variants of the French plane to spice up its dwindling jet fleet. The Indian Navy has additionally ordered 26 Rafale-M jets.
Notably, this comes over a 12 months after Pakistan, an in depth ally of China, claimed to have downed a number of IAF Rafales in the course of the Indo-Pakistan confrontation in Could 2025, a declare that India has flatly rejected. IAF, however, claimed destroying round 12-14 PAF warplanes in the course of the transient however intense conflict.
The Chinese language and Egyptian air forces began their first flight coaching day of the joint workout routines “Eagles of Civilization-2026” on August 23 in Egypt. https://t.co/80RsrCP8D2 pic.twitter.com/88TXsiVicK
— CCTV+ (@CCTV_Plus) August 24, 2026
Observers have hailed the J-16 & Rafale drills as historic as a result of Chinese language pilots hardly ever get stay dissimilar coaching towards fashionable Western fighters.
No official kill ratios, scores, or “win or loss” tallies have been launched by the Chinese language PLA Air Drive, the Chinese language Ministry of Nationwide Protection, the Egyptian Ministry of Protection, or impartial observers. Nevertheless, in style PLA watcher Rick Joe cautioned on X: “Wholesome reminder for everybody to take any eventual leaks/rumours of ‘outcomes’ of DACT effectively salted, because the parameters and restrictions of such workout routines are by no means identified.”
Notably, the train outcomes in dissimilar air fight coaching are closely formed by guidelines of engagement, simulated weapons or sensors, mission goals, pilot proficiency, and supporting property. These outcomes aren’t direct measures of which plane would win in actual fight.
This may occasionally have allowed Chinese language pilots to evaluate the Rafale’s flight traits, fundamental weapon configurations, medium- and close-range mobility, sensor conduct in engagements, and the way its ways work together with Chinese language techniques below real looking situations.
Since these aren’t Indian Rafales, there could also be some variations in weapons configuration, digital warfare suites, pilot coaching, and help techniques. Nonetheless, any real-world information on efficiency and ways is helpful even when incomplete, which can profit the nation in fight towards operators of the jet—corresponding to India.
It seems China isn’t simply constructing functionality; it’s actively testing it towards a number of the finest plane on the earth.
“The Chinese language would probe the Egyptian Rafales. It is going to depend upon how a lot the Egyptians will give away. They’ll develop ways towards the Rafale. Lastly, it’s the man behind the machine that issues. We beat the US F15s in air fight within the first-ever train between IAF & USAF. They determined to speed up the F-22 to beat us. It was everywhere in the US press,” IAF veteran and navy commentator, Group Captain Johnson Chacko (retd), instructed the EurAsian Instances.
J-16 vs Rafale
The J-16 is a heavy twin-engine fighter designed for long-range operations.
It could actually deploy long-range air-to-air and strike weapons, has a robust radar, and is good for missions prioritizing firepower and vary.
The J-16 is envisioned as half of a bigger community that additionally contains floor sensors, digital warfare capabilities, and early-warning plane. This permits the plane to battle as half of a big, coordinated system. The J-16 additionally has a selected digital warfare variant, the J-16D, and excels in payload and vary.
The J-16 boasts refined fireplace management and radar techniques. It has an area Energetic Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar put in. The plane can observe 15–20 air targets concurrently, with a said vary of 150–200 kilometers for fighter-sized targets. The plane additionally boasts a complicated Infrared Search and Observe (IRST) system for passive detection with a variety of fifty–80 kilometers.
The fighter has a glass cockpit design influenced by the J-20 stealth fighter, with a modernized cockpit that includes a helmet-mounted show (HMD) for enhanced pilot situational consciousness. It could actually conduct digital warfare (EW), suppress enemy air defenses (SEAD), perform precision strikes, and interact in air-to-air fight.
The plane additionally makes use of radar-absorbent supplies (RAM) and a darkish gray stealth coating to cut back its radar cross-section and improve survivability.
To enhance defensive capabilities, the J-16 additionally has chaff/flare dispensers, digital countermeasures (ECM), and missile strategy warning techniques (MAWS). The plane has sometimes been used to intercept Western surveillance planes over the South China Sea, resulting in a number of dangerous confrontations. Moreover, the introduction of recent datalinks, improved EW techniques, and the elevated use of carbon composites by the Chinese language on this plane give it a superior fight functionality.
In keeping with earlier stories/claims, the J-16 concurrently pressured two overseas stealth fighter jets to retreat by locking them. Whereas the report didn’t disclose which overseas stealth plane it was referring to, the one two plane that match the outline have been the F-22 and the F-35.
The Dassault Rafale, however, is a twin-engine fighter designed for versatility and independence on a variety of missions. It’s well-known for its distinctive agility, very good sensor fusion, and potent digital warfare system that will increase survivability in contested places.
Rafale can shortly swap between air-to-air fight, floor assault, reconnaissance, and marine strike, and it typically operates effectively with minimal exterior help.
This French fighter jet’s design meets the necessities of fast deployment, provider operations within the naval variant, and expeditionary operations.
It’s thought of engaging to air forces that want a single plane to carry out many roles effectively.
The close-coupled canard-delta association of the Rafale’s aerodynamic design gives superior low-speed dealing with, high-angle-of-attack efficiency, and maneuverability, because the Eurasian Instances explained earlier.
Its complete airframe was designed for vitality maneuverability, permitting a pilot to transition shortly between assault and defensive positions. The Rafale’s exact fly-by-wire controls and high-angle-of-attack stability make it responsive and forgiving, encouraging aggressive dealing with whereas permitting for errors.
Though it’s not as stealthy because the F-35 or J-20, the airframe’s substantial use of composite supplies and radar-absorbent supplies (RAM) offers it a decrease radar cross-section (RCS) than earlier-generation fighters.
The Rafale can also be geared up with the RBE2-AA energetic electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, developed by Thales. This radar can observe as much as 40 targets concurrently, have interaction as much as 8 targets without delay, and carry out floor mapping and terrain avoidance.
Moreover, the plane has the OSF (Optronique Secteur Frontal) infrared search and observe system with a passive long-range goal detection functionality and the SPECTRA digital warfare suite, which reduces the plane’s detectability and will increase its survivability by combining radar warning receivers, laser warning receivers, missile strategy warning, jamming, decoy allotting, and energetic cancellation strategies.
The J-16 has better vary, can carry a bigger payload, and could also be higher suited to saturation strikes or long-endurance patrols. The Rafale, in distinction, gives stronger situational consciousness, improved avionics integration, and dogfighting agility.
