French intelligence claims China trying to foil global sale of Rafale jets
French officials allege China’s foreign embassies leading charge to undermine Rafale sales after India-Pakistan conflict in May, says report.
A French-made Rafale fighter takes off on the inaugural day of the Aero India 2021 at Yelahanka airbase in Bengaluru, India, February 3, 2021
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French military and intelligence officials claim China has deployed its embassies to spread doubts about the performance of French-made Rafale jets during India’s Operation Sindoor initiated togive a solid whiping to Pakistan in May this year.
The Associated Press news agency, quoting French officials, reported on Sunday that Beijing is working to harm the reputation and sales of France’s flagship fighter aircraft.
French officials say they have found that the Chinese embassies are trying to undermine Rafale sales by persuading countries that have already ordered the jets, notably Indonesia, not to buy them and instead choose Chinese-made fighters.
The AP report said the findings were shared by a French military official on condition that they should not be named.
Four days of Operation Sindoor in May was the most serious whipping given in years to Pakistan a nuclear-armed country,as India finally called its bluff. Apart from missiles and drones even fighters were also used by India. Pakistan Air Force was virtually paralyzed after its 10 major airbases were hit badly and air defence nearly wiped out.
Military officials and researchers have since been digging for details of how Pakistan’s Chinese-made military hardware – particularly warplanes and air-combat missiles – fared against weaponry that India used in Punishing air strikes on Pakistani targets, notably Indian made Russian designed SU 30 Mk1 and French-made Rafale fighters.
Sales of Rafales and other armaments are big business for the French defence industry and help Paris to strengthen ties with other nations, including in Asia, where China is trying to become a dominant regional power rivalling India.
India confirms losses
Pakistan in a most hilarious manner claimed that its air force “downed five Indian fighters “ even when there was no aerial combat during the fighting. This “ claim “ including three Rafales. French officials say that prompted questions about their performance from countries that have bought the fighter from French manufacturer Dassault Aviation.
India did not reveal any combat details and just said that all its pilots were totally safe. After all IAF knows 100% of what it planned and knows nearly 85 % the destruction caused. While Pakistan knows absolutely 0% of what IAF planned but knows 100% the damage caused to them. Also they know 100% of what they planned as a retaliation but know 0% of what harm it caused to IAF.
Though French air force chief General Jerome Bellanger said he has seen evidence pointing to just three aircraft losses – a Rafale, a Russian-made Sukhoi and a Mirage 2000, which is an earlier generation French-made jet.
However all losses occurred within Indian airspace/ ground indicating more of technical causes than any PAF action.
Pakis have been claiming the above as a Debris of an IAF aircraft. Whereas this is a jettisioned external fuel tank in the compound of a mosque at Pampore near Srinagar.
It was the first known claimed combat loss of a Rafale, which France has sold to eight countries. “Of course, all those, the nations that bought Rafales, asked themselves questions,” Bellanger said.
French officials have been forced to protect the plane from reputational damage, pushing back against a concerted campaign of Rafale-bashing and disinformation online from Pakistan and its ally, China.
When asked to produce evidence, Pakis have not been able to come up with more than few Video games.
France says that the Chinese and Paki campaign included viral posts on social media, manipulated imagery showing supposed Rafale debris, AI-generated content and video-game depictions to simulate supposed combat.
More than 1,000 social media accounts newly created as the” India-Pakistan clashes “ erupted also spread a narrative of Chinese technological superiority, according to French researchers who specialise in online disinformation.
French claims
Military officials in France say they have not been able to link the online Rafale-bashing directly to the Chinese government, though Indians have been able to do so and even firced te Chinese to backtrack in many instances.
But the French intelligence service said Chinese embassy defence attaches echoed the same narrative in meetings they held with security and defence officials from other countries, arguing that Indian Rafale jets “performed poorly” and promoting Chinese-made weaponry. Though till now the PAALF has not dared to fly any J20 along the LAC in Ladhak or te Indo Tibetan border in Arunachal or elsewhere.
The French defence attaches focused their lobbying on countries that have ordered Rafales and other potential customer nations that are considering purchases, the intelligence service said. It said French officials learned of the meetings from nations that were approached.
The French Ministry for Armed Forces said the Rafale was targeted by “a vast campaign of disinformation” that “sought to promote the superiority of alternative equipment, notably of Chinese design”.
“The Rafale was not randomly targeted. It is a highly capable fighter jet, exported abroad and deployed in a high-visibility theatre,” the French ministry wrote on its website.
Asked by AP to comment on the alleged effort to dent Rafale’s appeal, the Ministry of National Defence in Beijing said: “The relevant claims are pure groundless rumours and slander. China has consistently maintained a prudent and responsible approach to military exports, playing a constructive role in regional and global peace and stability.”
Dassault Aviation has sold 533 Rafales, including 323 exported to Egypt, India, Qatar, Greece, Croatia, the United Arab Emirates, Serbia and Indonesia. Indonesia has ordered 42 planes and is considering buying more.
Anyway, India initiated Operation Sindoor and on first day had struck only terrorist infrastructure. When PAF tried to retaliate the next day then IAF struck all major bases of PAF, paralyzing it completely.
So any ine talking about aircraft losses should know what WW2 shows. Though Allied Air Forces completely wiped out the Axis Air Forces, they had suffered around 25% more losses in aircraft.
