India's Rafale dream shattered in combat

Express Tribune

08-05-2025

Listen to article
Pakistan's military announced on Wednesday that it had shot down five Indian fighter jets – including three state-of-the-art French Rafale warplanes – on the night between May 6 and 7 as it retaliated against India's missile attack on civilian infrastructure at six locations along the Working Boundary and the Line of Control.
New Delhi has yet to officially confirm the loss of its prized assets, but independent sources lend credibility to the Pakistani military's assertion, marking the first combat loss of a Rafale fighter jet anywhere in the world.
As soon as the news of India's naked aggression broke late Tuesday night, reports emerged on various social media platforms about the downing of Indian combat aircraft. Indian netizens were either silent or trying to deny the reports.
However, DG ISPR Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif officially confirmed at a news briefing on Wednesday that five Indian Air Force jets had been shot down, including three Rafale fighter jets, one MiG-29, and one SU-30. He also claimed that a Harop combat drone was shot down.
According to the military spokesperson, 'These aircraft were brought down over various locations: in Indian Punjab near Bathinda, in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (two near Awantipora, one near Akhnoor), and one near Srinagar.'
He said that the Indian jets were downed by the Pakistan Air Force. 'These jets were shot down after they attacked Pakistan and released their weapons. Only then were they engaged and fired upon,' he added. 'We could have shot down more than 10 Indian jets, but exercised restraint.'
The military spokesperson said, 'At no point were Indian jets allowed to enter Pakistani airspace. Likewise, Pakistani aircraft never entered Indian airspace.' He clarified that all PAF aircraft remained safe in the skirmish.
So far, the Indian military or air force has not issued any response to this claim, nor have their official social media platforms shared any information.
Even during the Indian military's press briefing, where they provided details about their targets, there was no mention of any aircraft being shot down.
Although the Indian government has not confirmed or denied anything yet, BBC correspondent reported seeing debris from a downed aircraft being removed by a bulldozer in the town of Pampore in Pulwama district in (IIOJK).
According to locals, they heard loud explosions amid the roar of jet bombers. Masroor said parts of the aircraft were being collected from various parts of the town.
An Indian Air Force team was reportedly present at the crash site to inspect the wreckage, but officials have not confirmed which aircraft it was or which country it belonged to. The crash site has been cordoned off, and no one is being allowed to approach it.
The BBC correspondent also reported another aircraft crash in the Ramban district in IIOJK on Tuesday night.
According to Zahoor Ahmed, the village head (Sarpanch) of Pantiyal in Ramban, a loud explosion occurred along with jet sounds on Wednesday night, and he visited the site with the police.
Additionally, reports have emerged of an aircraft crash in Bathinda district, Punjab, India, although there has been no official confirmation.
According to Indian media, the aircraft crashed near Akalian Kalan village, killing at least one person and injuring nine others.
The Indian Air Force has yet to issue any statement regarding these crashes. India's newspaper The Hindu initially reported, citing Indian officials, that three aircraft had crashed in different parts of IIOJK.
However, The Hindu later deleted the post from social media, saying, 'We have removed the post regarding Indian aircraft involvement in Operation Sandur because it could not be officially confirmed.'
International news agency Reuters also reported that four Indian government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said three aircraft had crashed in separate locations in IIOJK.
The report also claimed that the pilots of the aircraft had been taken to the hospital.
Meanwhile, various videos circulated on social media showing aircraft debris, but the BBC could not independently verify these videos.
Later in the day, a senior French intelligence official told CNN that at least one Indian Air Force Rafale fighter jet had indeed been shot down by Pakistan, partially corroborating Pakistan's earlier claims. The official added that French authorities were investigating whether additional Rafale jets may have been downed.
Throughout the day, social media was flooded with images purportedly showing the wreckage of Indian jets downed in combat.
One widely shared image showed the remains of a jet engine that appeared to be from a French-made aircraft. While some analysts speculated it belonged to a Mirage 2000 – the type India used for the 2019 Balakot air strike – certain details seemed more consistent with the engines that power the Rafale fighter.
Rick Joe, an expert on China's military advancements, who The Express Tribune spoke to about China's purported sixth-generation stealth fighter prototypes in an earlier interview, weighed in on the matter. Posting on X (formerly Twitter) under the handle @RickJoe_PLA, he noted: 'The mystery engine does look like it has a distinctive pattern of screws on the nozzles … consistent with the M88 engine that powers the Rafale, rather than the M53 engine used in the Mirage 2000.'
Following the initial reports, additional images surfaced on social media, allegedly showing the wreckage of a Rafale fighter jet's tailfin and rudder lying in a field in Bathinda, Punjab. The tailfin displayed the serial number BS-001, which aviation experts identified as belonging to one of the first single-seat Rafale jets delivered to India by France.
Rick Joe shared a side-by-side comparison on X, matching the tailfin image with a high-resolution photo of the IAF Rafale bearing the BS-001 serial number: 'Rotating the original image, and looking at a pic of serial BS-001 in better times, from the same side (right/starboard), all the details pretty much line up ('RAFALE' and 'BS 001', roundel flag positioning, slime light, panel lines, etc) … If the pic is real, this would call it.'
A video reportedly filmed by residents of Aklian Kalan village in Indian Punjab also showed what appeared to be remains of an MBDA MICA air-to-air missile and its associated launch rail. Both the Rafale and Mirage 2000 fighter jets are capable of carrying MICA missiles.
Aklian Kalan is less than 250 kilometres from the Ambala airbase, home to the Indian Air Force's No. 17 'Golden Arrows' Squadron, which operates Rafale fighters.
Meanwhile, aviation journalist and author Andreas Rupprecht (@RupprechtDeino on X) shared an image showing what appeared to be the nose section of a Rafale fighter jet, suggesting in his post that 'this is allegedly the radome from the second Rafale.'
Other videos and images purportedly showed the wreckage of an Indian MiG-29 or Su-30MKI fighter jet — both of which Pakistan claims to have shot down.
The identification was based on the remains of a Russian-made K-36DM ejection seat, used in both platforms. This particular aircraft is believed to have crashed in the Ramban district of Indian-administered Kashmir. Reuters had reported that an Indian combat jet had "crashed" in the region and that the pilot was injured and transported to a hospital.
While experts continued to debate how the Indian jets were brought down, another set of images circulating on social media appeared to show the wreckage of a Chinese PL-15 air-to-air missile.
The identifiable portion of the missile, located just behind the radome, featured a serial number and a small door marked as a seeker test port, as visible in the image at the top of this story.
According to reports, parts of the missile were found in the Hoshiarpur district of Indian Punjab, roughly 200 kilometres from Aklian Kalan village, where remains of a MICA missile were discovered, and about 180 kilometres from Ambala Airbase, home to the No. 17 Squadron that flies Rafale fighters.
Writing for the online magazine The War Zone, defence journalist Thomas Newdick noted that Pakistan's use of the missile is a significant development as it's the first confirmed use of the weapon in an operational context.
The PL-15 is China's current standard active radar-guided beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile, having supplanted the older PL-12, which also remains in service with both the Chinese and Pakistani air forces.
The export variant, designated PL-15E, is believed to have a range of approximately 145 kilometres, while the version deployed by China's military reportedly reaches up to 200 kilometres.
Designed to rival the US-made AIM-120D AMRAAM, the PL-15 is powered by a dual-pulse rocket motor and features a two-way datalink, enabling mid-course guidance updates from the launch aircraft and feedback from the missile itself. The development of the PL-15 spurred efforts in the United States and elsewhere to create new air-to-air missiles with superior range.
In PAF service, the PL-15E is believed to equip both the JF-17 Block III and the J-10CE, which were acquired specifically to counter India's induction of the Rafale fighter jet.
These recent developments once again evoke memories of the tensions between India and Pakistan after the Pulwama attack and Pakistan's claimed retaliation to India's Balakot airstrikes.
It is noteworthy that in 2019, after Indian airstrikes on an alleged militant camp in Balakot, Pakistan retaliated with its airstrikes in IIOJK and claimed it had shot down two Indian fighter jets.
India, on the other hand, claimed that it had shot down a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet. The Indian Air Force held a press conference to support this claim.
Indian officials said that Indian Air Force pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman shot down a Pakistani F-16 before his aircraft was downed.
Pakistan repeatedly denied this claim. Later, US magazine Foreign Policy reported that US defense officials had counted all Pakistani F-16s and found none missing.
Following this, the Pakistani military spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor stated that 'India's claims about the attack and its consequences are false, and it's time India told the truth about the loss of its second jet shot down by Pakistan.'
Pakistan maintains that it shot down two Indian jets in 2019, while Indian President Ram Nath Kovind awarded Wing Commander Abhinandan the third-highest military honor, the 'Vir Chakra,' for allegedly downing a Pakistani F-16.