China may have fresh ammunition in its war of words over the downing of an Indian Air Force Dassault Rafale this past spring. Diplomats from the People’s Republic of China, as well as open-source military analysts on social media, engaged in a campaign that put into question the capabilities and effectiveness of the French-made omnirole fighter.
Paris accused China of engaging in a disinformation campaign to sow doubts about the Rafale. However, the loss of the fighter jet by India may have been due to the Indian Air Force underestimating the capabilities of the Chinese-made PL-15 air-to-air missile. Reuters first reported that on the evening of May 7, 2025, a Pakistani Air Force Chengdu J-10C Vigorous Dragon (NATO reporting name “Firebird”) fired the PL-15 at the IAF Rafale at a range of 200 km (125 miles). That exceeded the IAF’s estimated capabilities of the ordnance, especially at night.
Pakistani officials have claimed that three French-made Dassault Rafales were shot down, a figure disputed by New Delhi, which has acknowledged that one of the aircraft was shot down. However, even the loss of one of the Rafale fighters was enough to signal alarms regarding the effectiveness of Western military platforms when facing what are largely untested Chinese systems. According to a report from Reuters, which cited two Indian officials as well as three of their Pakistani counterparts, the faulty intelligence about the PL-15 gave the Rafale pilots a “false sense of confidence,” and the aviators believed they were beyond the range of the Pakistani aircraft. IAF pilots were reportedly instructed that the export model of the PL-15 carried by the Chinese-made J-10C had a range of 150 kilometers (94 miles).
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