US Report Debunks Claims of Rafale Losses, Says China Ran Disinformation Drive During India-Pakistan Clash

Only three Indian fighter planes, all of them not Rafales, were downed by Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, contrary to the claims made by US President Donald Trump and Pakistan, a report submitted to the US Congress says.

The report by US-China Economic and Security Review Commission said China initiated a disinformation campaign to hinder sales of French Rafales in favour of its own J-35s and used fake social media accounts to propagate AI and video game images of supposed “debris” from the planes China’s weaponry had ‘’destroyed.’’

The report submitted to the US Congress on November 18 said China ‘’opportunistically’’ used Pakistan’s military crisis during Operation Sindoor to test and promote its own Defence capabilities. China’s role in the May 7–10 clash between India and Pakistan drew global attention as Pakistan’s military relied upon Chinese weaponry and reportedly leveraged Chinese intelligence.

‘’Pakistan’s use of Chinese weapons to down French Rafale fighter jets used by India also became a particular selling point for Chinese Embassy Defence sales efforts despite the fact that only three jets flown by India’s military were reportedly downed and all may not have been Rafales,’’ the report says.

Chinese Embassy officials convinced Indonesia to halt a purchase of Rafale jets already in process, furthering China’s inroads into other regional actors’ military procurements, it said. In the weeks after Operation Sindoor, China sought to bolster its weapons sales.

China helped Pakistan with “live inputs” on Indian military positions throughout the crisis and effectively used the conflict as a testing ground for its own military capabilities.

While characterization of this conflict as a “proxy war” may overstate ‘’China’s role as an instigator,’’ Beijing opportunistically leveraged the conflict to test and advertise the sophistication of its weapons, useful in the contexts of its ongoing border tensions with India and its expanding Defence industry goals, according to the report.

China neither confirmed nor denied its degree of involvement, the report says.

This clash (between India and Pakistan) was the first time China’s modern weapon systems, including the HQ-9 air Defence system, PL-15 air-to-air missiles, and J-10 fighter aircraft were used in active combat, serving as a real-world field experiment, the report said.

China expanded its military cooperation with Pakistan in 2025. In November-December 2024, China and Pakistan held the three-week Warrior-VIII counter-terrorism drills, and in February 2025, China’s navy participated in Pakistan’s multinational AMAN drills, highlighting China’s and Pakistan’s growing Defence cooperation.

As Pakistan’s largest Defence supplier, China provided approximately 82 percent of the country’s arms imports from 2019 to 2023.

China reportedly offered to sell 40 J-35 fifth-generation fighter jets, KJ-500 aircraft, and ballistic missile Defence systems to Pakistan in June 2025. The same month, Pakistan announced a 20 percent increase in its 2025–2026 Defence budget, raising planned expenditures to 9 billion US Dollars despite an overall budget decrease.