On May 10, India launched a large-scale missile attack on multiple Pakistani air bases, drawing significant attention. This action involved the Chinese-made Hongqi-16 and Hongqi-9 air defense systems, which participated in intercepting high-speed missile groups. While the overall results were not perfect, their performance received commendation.

This attack revealed various shortcomings in Pakistan's air defense system, including inadequate terminal defense capabilities, outdated bunker facilities, and limited national defense depth, necessitating urgent improvements. According to military sources, India had conducted its first airstrike on Pakistani military bases on May 7, but it was unsuccessful, with five fighter jets shot down by Pakistan's J-10CE. Following this setback, India launched a second offensive on May 10, firing over 200 BrahMos air-launched cruise missiles and Scalp-EG ground missiles, showing a scale and precision that far surpassed the previous attempt.

Due to Pakistan's limited territorial depth, the flying time of incoming missiles is short, rendering the ZDK-03 early warning aircraft, J-10CE, and Falcon Block 3 less effective in responses. The interception responsibilities have largely fallen to ground electronic warfare systems and surface-to-air missile systems. Reports indicated that some BrahMos missiles were misled off course by electronic countermeasure systems, but a considerable number still relied on the Hongqi-16E/FE and Hongqi-9E/BE air defense systems for interception.

Pakistan currently operates various defense missile types, including LY-80 (Hongqi-16E), Hongqi-16FE, FD-2000 (Hongqi-9E), and Hongqi-9BE. The best-performing Hongqi-16FE and Hongqi-9BE are in limited numbers, mostly deployed around Islamabad, leaving the central and southern regions with relatively weak air defense capabilities. In this attack, three of the five damaged air bases were located in the central region, one in the south, and one in the north. The northern Nulhan base, deploying new Hongqi systems, had a high interception efficiency, suffering only minor damage.

Conversely, the southern Balar base was struck directly by missiles, resulting in five fatalities, including one squadron leader. The three central bases faced severe damage, although there were no reports of significant human casualties; however, their runways and facilities sustained heavy damage. Military analysts noted that Pakistan's current air defense system relies too heavily on mid-to-long-range intercepts and is glaringly deficient in terminal air defense, struggling to respond effectively to low-altitude penetrating missiles. If systems like China's Tianlong or Russia's Pantsir-S1 were introduced, they could offset the weaknesses of the Hongqi series during saturation attacks.