A deepening rift has emerged between France and India over the performance of the Dassault Rafale fighter jet, following its reported losses during the recent Pakistan-India conflict.
During the conflict, Pakistan Air Force shot down nine Indian fighter jets, including at least three Rafales. Dassault Aviation has a hard time believing that Indian pilots also crashed two Rafales after returning from combat sorties. Dassault Aviation was outraged, issuing a statement that blamed Indian pilots for their lack of combat readiness with these high-tech European jets.
According to regional and Western media, as well as defence analysts from the United States and France, PAF downed multiple Indian fighter jets in the opening phase of hostilities.
The dismal showing of India’s expensive French-built Dassault Rafales in its recent war against Pakistan has triggered a wave of recriminations between the Indian and French governments. Not only has the unimpressive display of the Dassault Rafales in the opening phases of the recent conflict come as a shock to the world, but other clients of French defence contractors are having second thoughts.
According to Rafale test pilot Hélippe Duchateau, who worked at Dassault Aviation for 18 years, and told Global Defence Corp that Indian pilots are poorly trained and the military’s top brass are underprepared for combat operations. Flying the aircraft for a few months doesn’t make any pilot combat-ready. Pilot skills and competence are taken into account, regardless of the aircraft’s sophistication.
Unconfirmed reports in the international press and across social media suggest that the Indian government is refusing to allow Dassault’s audit team to access India’s fleet of Rafales. Dassault’s auditors want to inspect the Indian fleet of Rafales to ensure that there are no technical problems that the Indian Air Force (IAF) may have missed.
The incident has ignited diplomatic tension between the two long-time defence partners, raising fresh questions over the credibility of France’s premier combat aircraft.
According to multiple reports, including those from the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the Indonesian government has placed its $8.1 billion deal with Dassault. This French firm manufactures the Rafale warplane, which is currently under review.
In addition to the suspected loss of at least three Rafales, India is also believed to have lost one Su-30MKI, two MiG-29, one Jaguar and one Mirage 2000, bringing the total to six confirmed or alleged shootdowns, most of which occurred during India’s deep-strike operations inside Pakistani territory.
Indian Chief of Defence Staff General Chauhan confirmed that Indian jets were downed in the opening hours of the conflict, but did not say how many were lost.
“What is important is not the jet being down, but why they were being downed. What mistakes were made — those are important. Numbers are not important,” Chauhan told Bloomberg TV.
According to reports, Dassault, the French manufacturer of Rafale, has declined to provide India with the jet’s source code, further straining relations between the two nations. To defend Rafale’s reputation, Paris is also countering New Delhi’s claims by attributing any issues to maintenance and pilot error instead of flaws in France’s top fighter jet.
Compounding the situation, the Indian government is blocking Dassault’s audit team from inspecting India’s Rafale fleet. Dassault’s auditors sought to evaluate the Indian Rafales to verify that there were no technical issues that the Indian Air Force (IAF) might have overlooked.
The Indians seem likely to be uneasy about this request. According to Indian reports, New Delhi is understandably wary that the French auditors may intend to attribute the lacklustre performance of Dassault Rafales to the Indian Air Force itself.
However, the situation doesn’t conclude here.
The performance of Dassault Rafale fighter jets during the Pakistan-India conflict has drawn the attention of other nations. The Indonesian government, concerned about the purported deficiencies of the aircraft, has initiated an audit of a recent agreement with Dassault.
This incident has also prompted Europe to reassess its military strategies. Meanwhile, it was reported that Dassault shares dropped after reports of the downing came in.
© 2025, GDC. © GDC and www.globaldefensecorp.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to www.globaldefensecorp.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
