India’s precision‐guided missile and air strikes on 9 sites in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir under Operation Sindoor lasted less than 30 minutes in the early hours of May 7 2025. However the engagement may have come at the cost of the loss of up to five fighter aircraft.

According to a report by CNN, an unnamed French intelligence official has confirmed that at least one airframe his country had supplied to India was lost. Rafale, which is manufactured by the French giant Dassault Aviation is the most advanced type of combat aircraft in the inventory of the Indian Air Force(IAF).

While it is unclear exactly how many of the 36 Rafale airframes IAF operates were part of Operation Sindoor or were lost during or after it, unverified images posted by X users with an obvious anti-Indian agenda show a mostly intact tail fin segment bearing the markings of the IAF, and seem to indicate that at least the airframe bearing the serial number BS 001 may have been lost.

In several statements through the day of May 7, Pakistan claimed that it shot down three separate Rafale aircraft and one each of Russian origin MiG 29 and SU-30MKI. As cited in another report by CNN, the Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif claimed that the Pakistani Air Force (PAF), had shot these aircraft down during an aerial dogfight which involved missiles being fired by PAF aircraft at their Indian adversaries.

While India is yet to acknowledge any aircraft or equipment losses during or after Operation Sindoor, another image posted on X claimed to show parts of a Chinese origin PL-15 Air to Air missile which also allegedly fell in the Indian region of Punjab.

While no concrete evidence has emerged connecting the alleged shooting down of an IAF Rafale to a PL-15 missile likely fired by a PAF J-10 fighter supplied to Pakistan by India’s main strategic threat China - the mere assertion is likely the manifestation of the worst case scenario in the defence policy planning circles in New Delhi.

Even if judged purely from a fiscal perspective, if the types, numbers and nature of loss of the Indian aircraft as claimed by Pakistan is accurate it would amount to the loss of over $1bn in military hardware within a day for India.