Thursday May 8, 2025 |
A top French official has said Pakistan downed an Indian Rafale fighter jet in overnight clashes between the neighbouring rivals, marking what could be the first confirmed combat loss of the sophisticated French-made aircraft.
The highly placed intelligence official told US broadcaster CNN that Pakistan shot down a Rafale fighter jet operated by the Indian Air Force.
The official added that French authorities were looking into whether more than one Rafale jet may also have been shot down overnight by Pakistan.
Pakistan said on Wednesday that it shot down five Indian fighter jets — including three Rafales — using Chinese-made J-10C aircraft.
A report in The New York Times cited three officials, local news reports, and accounts of witnesses, who said that “at least two aircraft” went down in India and the India-administered Kashmir.
Images posted online showed parts of a Rafale’s tailfin and rudder lying in a field, allegedly in Bathinda area of India’s Punjab state that borders Pakistan. The wreckage has serial number BS-001, identifying it as a single-seat Rafale EH.
The Pakistani military, meanwhile, said at least 31 civilians were killed and another 57 wounded following Indian missile strikes on its territory and during cross-border exchanges along the Line of Control, the de facto border that divides Kashmir between the two nations.
The rapid escalation follows an April 22 attack in the Pahalgam region of India-administered Kashmir, where 26 civilians were killed by gunmen.
India, without offering any evidence in public, swiftly blamed Pakistan, alleging “cross-border support” for the attackers — a charge Islamabad has rejected. Pakistani authorities have instead called for a neutral investigation overseen by a third party.
REPLY FROM OUR SIDE: PAKISTAN
Photographs from the crash site in India-administered Kashmir appear to show debris bearing French manufacturing labels.
Independent experts cautioned that further investigation was needed to tie the debris to a Rafale aircraft.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that his country’s military shot down five Indian fighter jets as a “reply from our side to them”.
“They destroyed the planes of our attackers and enemies,” he added, referring to Pakistan’s air force shooting down the Indian fighter aircraft.
Sharif said, in his TV address on Wednesday that India had made a mistake by launching strikes on Pakistan, to which they would have to “suffer the consequences.”
At least three French-manufactured Rafale jets were among the aircraft hit by Pakistani missiles fired from both the air and surface across the de facto frontier in the disputed region of Kashmir, Sharif said in an address to the Parliament.
“This is a nation of courageous people who have high aims. They respect their country and protect their country. They will fight until the last drop of their blood.”
VERSATILE AERIAL FIGHTER
Dassault Aviation, the French aerospace manufacturer, has not responded to requests for comment.
The French military has likewise withheld official comment but remains in close contact with Indian defense officials.
India acquired 36 Rafales in a high-profile 2016 agreement with France, aiming to upgrade its aging fleet amid growing regional tensions.
The twin-engine jet is regarded as one of the world’s most versatile fighters, equipped for both air-to-air combat and deep strike operations.
As the situation along the Kashmir frontier grows more volatile, the reported downing of the Rafale raises new stakes — not just for South Asia, but for the broader security calculus among key defence partners.
Talking about the assault in the intervening night of May 6 and 7, Indian officials said New Delhi exercised its “right to respond and preempt as well as deter more such cross-border attacks.”
Pakistan Shot Down Indian Rafale Fighter Jet In Kashmir Dogfight, Says Report | TheNewsDESK
