A French intelligence report has reportedly uncovered a Chinese-led misinformation campaign aimed at discrediting French-made Rafale fighter jets following India’s Balakot air strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), according to a report by India Today.
The campaign, launched after India carried out air strikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist training camp in PoK as part of “Operation Sindoor,” sought to damage the global image and battlefield credibility of the Rafale jets, which played a crucial role in the offensive. The strikes were carried out using Rafale aircraft and drones in retaliation to a deadly terrorist attack in Pahalgam.
As per the French intelligence findings, China allegedly collaborated with Pakistan in spreading false claims that three to four Indian Rafale jets had been shot down by Pakistani forces the day after the strike. These claims were swiftly refuted by Dassault Aviation—the manufacturer of Rafale—whose CEO publicly denounced the assertions as “lies.”
The report suggests that China’s motive behind the misinformation was to undermine the Rafale’s standing in the global defense market and boost the appeal of its own fighter aircraft. Chinese officials, particularly defense attachés stationed in various countries, reportedly propagated the narrative to promote Chinese jets over French ones. By doing so, Beijing aimed to influence foreign governments weighing defense procurement options, drawing them closer to China’s strategic and military fold.
India’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Anil Chauhan, addressed the controversy during his remarks at the Shangri-La Dialogue, shifting the focus from claims about the number of aircraft downed to the broader strategic significance of the operation. “Nobody worth the salt is discussing numbers of targets destroyed. The relevance is the legitimacy of the attack, the message, and above all, which camp was targeted,” he asserted.
The revelations underscore a broader pattern of disinformation and strategic rivalry in the global defense sphere, with implications not just for India and France but for countries evaluating defense partnerships in a geopolitically volatile world.