India’s Operation Sindoor losses have become a global debate, but Maj Gen Sudhakar Jee says India lost no aircraft and claims China ran a propaganda drive with Pakistan to damage Rafale’s global reputation.
New Delhi: Operation Sindoor, launched by India on May 7, 2025, was triggered by the brutal killing of 22 civilians, including tourists, in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22. For the next 88 hours, India and Pakistan exchanged intense barrages of drones and airpower across multiple border sectors. Jammu and Kashmir, especially Poonch and Rajouri, bore most of the impact as both sides claimed battlefield successes and losses.
But soon after the clash ended, the debate moved from radar tracks to global platforms, intelligence assessments and a growing strategic triangle involving China.
US Congress Report: What It Says
A new report submitted to the US Congress by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission stated that India lost three military aircraft during the conflict—but added a crucial caveat:
“Despite the fact that only three jets flown by India’s military were reportedly downed and all may not have been Rafales.”
The same document noted Pakistan’s claim that Chinese-origin weapons helped down French Rafale fighters—something the report said “also became a particular selling point for Chinese Embassy defense sales efforts.”
Pakistan’s Claims
During the conflict, Pakistan claimed to have shot down:
- Three Rafales
- One MiG-29
- One Su-30MKI
- One Israeli IAI Heron UAV
Islamabad framed the confrontation as a battlefield victory backed by Chinese precision weapons, and later intelligence from the US also indicated that Beijing used the conflict to field-test advanced systems including:
- HQ-9 air defence system
- PL-15 air-to-air missiles
- J-10 fighters
India Responds with Its Own Kill Count
India did not publicly confirm aircraft loss figures, maintaining that combat comes with unavoidable costs. However, the Indian Air Force was quick to put forward its own battlefield scorecard.
On October 3, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh said India had taken out multiple Pakistani fighters:
“As far as air defence part is concerned, we have evidence of one long range strike…along with that five fighters, high-tech fighters between F-16 and JF-17 class, our system tells us,” he told reporters in Delhi.
The F-16 is of American origin, while the JF-17 is jointly developed by Pakistan and China.
China’s Bigger Strategic Play
The US-China Commission report concluded that China had gained significantly from the clash—even though it was not formally a combatant.
“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 defense industry goals,” it said.
Indian military and diplomatic officials have also repeatedly indicated that China provided Pakistan with logistical and realtime intelligence support.
Indian Army Deputy Chief Lt Gen Rahul R Singh, speaking at a FICCI seminar, warned:
“Pakistan received real-time inputs about India’s important vectors from China during Operation Sindoor.”
He described a new triangle of adversaries, saying Pakistan was the visible frontline while China enabled it—along with additional support from Turkey.
Pakistan has denied these claims, while China has neither confirmed nor rejected its role.
China–Pakistan Defence Partnership Deepens
Operation Sindoor was not a stand-alone event. It came after years of expanding military cooperation between Islamabad and Beijing. Major developments include:
- A three-week Warrior-VIII counter-terrorism exercise in late 2024
- Chinese naval participation in Pakistan’s AMAN drills in early 2025
- China supplying 82% of Pakistan’s defence imports between 2019 and 2023, according to SIPRI
After the conflict, China reportedly offered Pakistan a major arsenal upgrade—40 J-35 fifth-generation fighters, KJ-500 surveillance aircraft, and ballistic missile defence systems. Islamabad subsequently increased its defence budget for 2025-26 by 20% to $9 billion.
A Counter-Narrative from India
Despite international data and US reporting, one influential retired Indian military voice has rejected claims of Indian losses entirely. Speaking to Asianet Newsable English, Major General Sudhakar Jee (Retd) said:
“India has not lost any aircraft during Operation Sindoor as per the understanding derived from various statements from Senior appointments like NSA, CDS and CAS on the subject from time to time post Operation Sindoor.”
He pointed to recent media reports claiming that the US intelligence community believed China conducted a coordinated information warfare campaign to damage the Rafale’s global reputation.
“Yesterday only there was a report in the media that the USA’s intelligence agencies have confirmed inputs that China was peddling in propaganda during and post Operation Sindoor with the help of Pakistan simply to enhance it’s competitive edge and promote sale of its JF 35 in the international market in comparison with the French Rafale, employed profitably by IAF against PAF.”
He also stressed that Rafale had a decisive edge:
“Rafale as an aircraft has greater survivability in any air to air battle because of it ability to deploy decoys whenever attacked.”
He argued that these narratives were driven not just by China but also by market competition, noting discussions about Saudi Arabia considering the purchase of 48 US F-35s.
Operation Sindoor may have lasted less than four days, but the aftershocks are still being felt. The guns fell silent in May 2025, but the fight for narrative dominance is still live—and now playing out in congressional reports and the global battlefield of perception.