But Dassault Aviation has rejected this report. In a formal statement, the French company said:

"Dassault Aviation formally denies that Eric Trappier has made any operational or technical comments regarding the use of the Rafale in this operation."

The company also said that the quote published by the French website was false. Dassault made it clear that no official statement had been given about Rafale’s performance in Operation Sindoor.

Indian Officials Strongly Deny Rafale Loss

Indian defence authorities have also rejected the claim. On July 7, Defence Secretary R.K. Singh said that it was “absolutely incorrect” to say India lost multiple Rafales. He told Network18:

“You have used the term Rafales in plural. I can assure you that is not correct. Pakistan suffered heavier losses, including over 100 terrorists.”

The Defence Secretary also said that Indian forces had full operational freedom during the four-day conflict. He added that there were no political restrictions on the military during the operation.

Earlier, India’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen. Anil Chauhan had acknowledged that India did suffer some losses. However, he denied Pakistan’s claim of shooting down six Indian jets, including Rafales. Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, he called the Pakistani claim “absolutely incorrect.”

At another event in Indonesia, Indian Defence Attaché Capt. Shiv Kumar said that India did lose “some” aircraft. But he said this happened because of political limitations. He explained that Indian pilots were not allowed to attack enemy air defences during the operation.

Chinese Influence Suspected

A report from the Associated Press added another twist. It said that French intelligence believes China is spreading false stories about Rafale jets. According to the report, Chinese defence officials are trying to influence countries like Indonesia to stop buying Rafales. Instead, they are pushing for Chinese-made fighter jets. The whole narrative was first pushed by the Chinese state media, Global Times, at the early stage of the fighting between the two rival states in order to create a good perception about the Chinese defence equipment, just to boost their defence export. 

India and Dassault have now both officially denied the reports. They say Rafales performed well, and no such losses occurred during Operation Sindoor.