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Indian Rafale shot down by a PL-15 fired by Pakistani J-10 last May
On May 7, 2025 the Indian Air Force (IAF) launched Operation Sindoor, India’s punitive retaliation strike was aiming to hit nine ‘terror camps’: essentially, nine out of 30+ Madrassas used by proxies of Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) to indoctrinate, organise, and train jihadists for terror attacks into India. Primary targets were facilities used by the UN-designated terrorist group Lashkar-e-Tayba (LeT) and another major ISI-run terror group, the Jaysh-e-Mohammed (JeM).
The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) proved capable of setting up an ‘ambush’ for several of incoming IAF formations. As a result, it definitely shot down 1 Rafale EH fighter-bomber. So far there wasn’t any kind of evidence for this, until when a senior French intelligence official confirmed to CNN that one Indian Air Force Rafale fighter jet was shot down by Pakistan, marking what is the first known combat loss of the French-made aircraft.
As already explained, two US officials told Reuters that was a Pakistan Air Force Chengdu J-10 Vigorous Dragon (NATO reporting name: Firebird) Chinese-made fighter plane to shoot down and at least two Indian military aircraft (one of them being the Rafale BS001, the first of 36 acquired by the IAF).
Now, according to an extensive report appeared on Reuters, just after midnight May 7 PAF Air Chief Mshl. Zaheer Sidhu, ordered Pakistan’s prized Chinese-made J-10C jets to scramble. A senior PAF official, said Sidhu instructed his staff to target Rafales, the jewel of India’s fleet and had never been downed in battle.
“He wanted Rafales,” said the official.
Indian Rafale shot down by a PL-15 fired from 200km (124.27 mi)
110 aircraft were involved in the hour-long fight that took place in darkness and that some experts estimate had been the world’s largest air battle in decades.
As a result of the engagement the J-10s were able to shot down at least one Rafale, its downing surprising many in the military community and raising questions about the effectiveness of Western military hardware against untested Chinese alternatives.
The performance of the Rafale wasn’t the key problem according to Reuters who interviewed two Indian officials and three of their Pakistani counterparts: in fact an Indian intelligence failure concerning the range of the China-made PL-15 missile fired by the J-10 fighter led to the downing of the Rafale. Both J-10 and PL-15 are operated only by China and Pakistan.
Indian officials said referring to the widely cited range of PL-15’s export variant that the faulty intelligence gave the Rafale pilots a false sense of confidence they were out of Pakistani firing distance, which they believed was only around 150 km.
According to Pakistani officials, the PL-15 that hit the Rafale was fired from around 200km (124.27 mi) away. Even farther according to Indian officials. That would be one of the longest-range air-to-air strikes recorded.
Evidence of the loss
In June, France’s air chief told reporters that he had seen evidence of the loss of that fighter and two other aircraft flown by India, including a Russian-made Sukhoi. However, India’s defense and foreign ministries did not comment the intelligence mistakes.
Nevertheless, the reality of combat-related was acknowledged by IAF Air Marshal AK Bharti, Director General Air Operations, in a press briefing on May 11.
“We are in a combat scenario; losses are a part of combat. The question you must ask is whether we have achieved our objective of decimating the terrorist camps. The answer is a thumping yes,” Bharti said dismissing the significance of numbers.
After reports emerged that Rafale jets were shot down by the PAF, shares of France’s Dassault Aviation — the maker of the Rafale fighter jet — dropped at the Paris Stock Exchange. The company’s stock had declined by EUR 5.40, or 1.64%, to EUR 324. […] The sharp contrast in investor sentiment could be a sign of global market confidence in the capabilities of PAF and performance of the JF-17 and J-10C jets, developed in cooperation with China. In fact, as already reported, Indonesia, which has outstanding Rafale orders, has said it is now considering purchasing J-10s – a major boost to China’s efforts to sell the aircraft overseas.
Better than the F-35 and much better than all the Chinese aircraft in the market
In June, Islamabad’s statements were described as “inaccurate” by Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier in an interview with French publication Challenges.
“The Indians haven’t communicated, so we don’t know exactly what happened. What we already know is that what the Pakistanis are saying is inaccurate,” he pointed out while responding to media queries about Pakistan’s assertion that India lost three Rafale jets.
In the interview Trappier reaffirmed the Rafale’s global standing.
“I think that the Rafale is indeed the best aircraft in the world, better than the F-35 and much better than all the Chinese aircraft in the market,” he said unequivocally when asked whether the Rafale still stands among the world’s top combat aircraft.
He added that even though the F-22 Raptor may outperform the Rafale in specific air-to-air scenarios, the Rafale remains the best multi-role fighter jet.
“It’s always complicated to say that we’re the best in absolute terms, but I sincerely think that we’re the best in compromise… Suppose you want a single aircraft capable of air-to-air missions, reconnaissance, air-to-ground strikes, nuclear missions and being able to embark on an aircraft carrier. In that case, I think that the Rafale is indeed the best aircraft in the world.”
Amid the controversy, Dassault Aviation’s statement stands as a strong rebuttal to Islamabad’s claims.
Photo credit: Courtesy of AVIC and Indian Air Force
