Less than 10 days ago, India and France
inked a deal
for 26 new Rafale M carrier based fighters, upgrades to what
was India's fleet of 36 Rafale land based fighters, and an assortment of munitions, spare parts plus ancillary equipment for the French jets, in addition to applicable training and services from Dassault, as well as its partners and subcontractors.
TBF the IAF's loss of one or more Rafale airframes against Pakistan may or may
not have been a result of an issue or inadequacy inherent to the Dassault platform.
However, it'll also
inevitably be easier for the Indian authorities to
blame French technology than
fault their own air force and its officers for the outcome of Operation Sindoor.
As such . . .
1. Will India
cancel its order for new Rafales and Rafale upgrades, and if so, what will the
alternative be?
2. Will other states like the
,
and
with Rafales on order
reconsider their pending acquisitions as well?
According to
, French officials are now attempting to confirm if
additional IAF Rafales were attrited on top of the one airframe that was lost to Pakistan
for certain last night:
A high-ranking French intelligence official told CNN today that one Rafale fighter jet operated by the Indian Air Force was downed by Pakistan, in what would mark the first time that one of the sophisticated French-made warplanes has been lost in combat.
The French official told CNN that French authorities were looking into whether more than one Rafale jets were shot down by Pakistan overnight.
From the looks of it, the French are obviously concerned on how India's use or misuse of the Rafale will reflect upon them, and affect demand for their defense products in years to come.
