Our Bureau
Paris
The French-made Rafale jets were a huge part of the artillery that India used while combating Pakistan in the conflicts they had a couple of months ago in May. Now, the reports have come out stating that China had deployed its embassies to spread misinformation regarding the jets to dampen the reputation of French fighter jets.
The French military and intelligence officials shared their findings with The Associated Press and they concluded that the Chinese are trying to impact sales of France’s flagship fighter jet by hammering its reputation. The French intelligence agencies have discovered that China’s foreign embassies were trying to cut off the sales of Rafale.
They were pursuing other countries that had already ordered the French-made fighter and asking them not to buy more. Their intelligence agencies concurred that the Chinese embassy were trying to persuade Indonesia to not go for French-made fighter jets and were also trying to encourage other potential buyers to choose Chinese-made planes.
The sales of these Rafales are a big part of the business of France’s Defense Industry. These sales also strengthen the bond of their government with other nations. They have a market in Asia with countries like India constructing their air forces with these Rafale fighter jets.
During the conflict between India and Pakistan, Pakistan had claimed that they had taken down 5 Indian jets including 3 Rafales. While India said that their fighter jets were taken down, they didn’t specify which one and how many. This led to the reputation of the France-made jet taking a severe hit with many doubting their abilities.
The French officials have since then tried to protect the plane from reputational damage and have refuted any such claims. French air force chief Gen. Jerome Bellanger had stated that he’s seen evidence pointing to just 3 Indian losses – a Rafale, a Russian-made Sukhoi and a Mirage 2000, which is an earlier generation French-made jet.
