Il funzionario francese afferma che il Pakistan ha abbattuto Rafale Jet mentre i funzionari esaminano possibili ulteriori perdite

It is quite significant that it is confirmed by an “high-ranking French intelligence official” (though a non-anonymous source would be more convincing) because with the lack of independent media in the two countries and their respective web brigades, it was difficult to trust any information that we were getting since yesterday.

And with the threats targetting Europe, it is also concerning that a Rafale could be shot down so easily…

Congratulations to the pilot that shot it down, they made history by being first pilot to achieve an A-A kill in a Chinese aircraft against an western one.

India should have gotten the F35. Hindsight is 20/20, as they say…

“Pakistani defense minister tells CNN they’re ‘prepared for an all out war.”

Little bit lower:

“Pakistan is looking to avoid “full-fledged war,” defense minister tells CNN”

Wtf? Is this some AI generated shit?

edit:

I totally agree that these statements are not contradictory, but these are titles of two separate articles. Even same photo is used. Confusing a little in my opinion, because separately they build completely different picture.

To make things clear :

Rafale being shot is different than Rafale being bad or JF17 being better than it (Rafale is still one of the best 4.5 gen).

We have no clue how it was shot, the tactics india put it into place and if they underestimated pakistan,if it was at shot at really close range you can have the best jamming suite ever you won’t have time to react accordingly / be able to do maneuvers etc.

Terrain can also change things and there is some parts that of near the border with India and Pakistan which is mountain etc so you can’t properly use your radar to see threats that could be hidden.

A plane is a plane and not invincible, see for example how f117 despite having advanced stealth still got shot by a missile from an old soviet radar.

Also Pakistan was on high alert since a while so it also help.

Let’s not forget dassault Rafael are exceptional plane when accompanied by matching networking and awacs support. India operates multiple platforms and avacs which can lead to slower or ineffective support.

Where as dynamics would be different for same plane when accompanied by other Rafael planes and awacs custom designed for it’s own.

When you are at risk of being targeted by multiple platforms and missiles Battle field awareness and Early radar support is very critical.

Moreover it’s stupidity to try a aggressive move in a highly defended airspace with a mission goal of not attacking military installations, when you attack the first thing is you go for is to suppress enemy air defences as targets instead of just trying to evade them.

[For anyone interested here is a section about The Rafale lacking anti radar munitions making them vulnerable to modern SAM systems.](https://meta-defense.fr/en/2024/10/24/burst-f5-drone-anti-radiation-munition/#munition-antiradiation-pour-le-rafale-un-besoin-identifie-de-longue-date)

Brah buy European, u had all these clueless nepotistic defense ministers crying and whining about leaving the f35 and buying European. See when you let your false sense of friendship cloud your judgement you end up making irrational decisions. I had so many clueless people talking about Rafael being better than f35. Now u know why the Rafael is useless in modern bvr combats. Funny how a pl 15E shoots down the aircraft when it is in indias own airspace that’s very scary 😂. If they had an f35 highly unlikely j10C radar could have had a lock that far. Stealth is the future, mediocre eu weapons doesn’t stand a chance against f35

Notice how few French flair users are in here, lol. A couple of months ago, when there were posts about how countries should switch from F-35s to Rafales, those French flair users were everywhere.