New Delhi, November 21 - In the high-stakes arena of global arms trade, where fighter jet sales can tip geopolitical balances, a startling revelation has emerged from a bipartisan U.S. commission. The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, in its latest annual report to Congress, accuses Beijing of orchestrating a sophisticated disinformation campaign to undermine the French Rafale fighter jet following the tense India-Pakistan border crisis in May 2025. This calculated effort, the commission asserts, aimed to sabotage Rafale sales worldwide while boosting demand for China's own J-35 stealth fighters. The timing could not have been more opportunistic, coming on the heels of a four-day skirmish that pitted India's advanced Western-supplied aircraft against Pakistan's Chinese-made arsenal, reshaping perceptions of military hardware reliability.
The India-Pakistan conflict, triggered by cross-border drone and missile strikes after a deadly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, marked the Rafale's combat debut for the Indian Air Force. India deployed the multirole jets in Operation Sindoor, a rapid retaliation that reportedly neutralized Pakistani positions equipped with Chinese HQ-9 air defense systems and PL-15 missiles. However, Pakistan claimed a propaganda victory, asserting that its J-10 fighters downed up to six Indian aircraft, including several Rafales, a narrative Beijing eagerly amplified. The U.S. commission's investigation, drawing from public records, intelligence assessments, and diplomatic cables, reveals that China exaggerated these unverified claims to portray its weapons as superior. Only three Indian jets were confirmed lost, and not all were Rafales, yet Beijing's narrative painted the French jet as vulnerable, leveraging the clash as a live testing ground to showcase its military exports' edge over Western competitors.
Central to the campaign was a web of fabricated evidence designed to erode trust in the Rafale, a versatile platform that has secured deals in over half a dozen nations, from Egypt to Qatar. French intelligence, as cited in the report, identified Chinese embassy defense attachés as key propagators, coordinating the spread of AI-generated images and simulated wreckage visuals to depict "debris" from downed Rafales. These manipulations, disseminated through coordinated channels, flooded international defense circles, pressuring potential buyers to reconsider purchases. The impact was tangible: Indonesian officials, mid-negotiation for Rafale acquisitions, paused proceedings after Chinese diplomats highlighted the "proven" superiority of J-10s in the conflict. Beijing's playbook extended to aggressive sales pitches, with embassies touting the engagement as validation for systems like the J-10, effectively turning a regional flare-up into a global marketing coup for Chinese arms dominance.
As Ukraine inks a landmark deal for up to 100 Rafales over the next decade, the commission's findings underscore the shadowy tactics threatening open markets in fighter jet procurement. China dismissed the allegations as baseless smears, but the report warns of escalating hybrid warfare in defense trade, where disinformation rivals missiles in potency. For nations weighing Rafale vs. Chinese alternatives, this episode serves as a stark reminder: in the battle for aerial supremacy, truth may be the first casualty.
