India and France Clash Over Rafale Fighter Jets

May 28th, reporting by the U.S. military defense magazine "The National Interest" stated that India's expensive French-made "Rafale" fighter jets performed poorly in recent conflicts with Pakistan, triggering a wave of mutual accusations between the Indian and French governments. The poor performance of the "Rafale" fighter jets at the beginning of the recent conflict not only shocked the world but also caused other customers of the French defense contractor to reconsider their options.

As first reported last week, the Indonesian government has initiated an audit of its recent small-scale fighter jet procurement agreement with Dassault. Although the audit does not specify the reasons, it is obvious that Jakarta is concerned about the underwhelming performance of the Indian-made "Rafale" jets against what many consider a weaker Pakistani Air Force.

This week, to salvage the reputation of the "Rafale" fighter jets, Paris counterattacked New Delhi, blaming maintenance issues and pilot errors rather than any defects in France's most advanced fighter jets.

????India Refuses Entry for French Auditors to Rafale Jets

Unverified reports in international media and social media suggest that the Indian government refused entry to Dassault's audit team into India's "Rafale" fighter jet facilities. The auditors from Dassault wished to inspect India's "Rafale" fleet to ensure there were no technical issues possibly overlooked by the Indian Air Force (IAF).

The Indians would certainly feel uneasy about this request. Why? New Delhi naturally suspects that the main purpose of the French auditors is to shift the blame for the underperformance of the Dassault "Rafale" jets onto the Indian Air Force itself.

In the aftermath of losing at least one "Rafale" jet early in India's recent war with Pakistan, some speculate that the problem does not lie with the "Rafale" jets themselves. Instead, they imply that inadequate training of Indian Air Force pilots and lax maintenance standards over the years are to blame. The Indians firmly deny this. In fact, while India's standards may have contributed to this disaster, a simpler explanation is more likely: the French are trying to cover up the fact that their complex "Rafale" jets are no longer more advanced than China-made aircraft used by Pakistan and cannot justify their high price.

????Indian Air Force Has Been Lacking Readiness for Over Ten Years

Of course, there is ample evidence suggesting that Dassault's concerns, clearly hurt by pride, might not be without merit. After all, the December 20, 2024 report by India's Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and the Defense Standing Committee highlighted a recruitment crisis affecting India's armed forces. The report stated that the Indian Air Force "is struggling with a severe shortage of pilots"—as reported by Shiwani Sharma of India Today on December 20, 2024, this gap increased from 486 in February 2015 to 596 in 2021, highlighting the growing challenge of maintaining readiness. The CAG report further condemned the relentless efforts made by the Indian Air Force from 2016 to 2021 to recruit an additional 222 pilots, which ultimately proved unsuccessful.

A shortage of personnel delayed attempts by the Indian Air Force to address operational issues with critical trainer aircraft like the Pilatus PC-7-Mk-II. With unreliable trainers and a severe shortage of qualified pilots, the Indian Air Force would face failure once war broke out.

As for the parliamentary committee, they pointed out that the ratio of fighter pilot seats was 1.25:1, insufficient to handle the "high-intensity combat" during India's four-day war with neighboring Pakistan. At the time, the Indian Air Force had only 31 fighter squadrons, while the country's air doctrine required at least 42. The Indian Air Force's failure to timely retire old aircraft and introduce new ones further reduced its defense readiness.

Evidently, French auditors were aware of these issues. These problems were well-documented, but despite efforts over the past decade before the outbreak of war earlier this month, none of them were resolved. All efforts made by the Indian government to address shortages in aircraft and pilots proved ineffective.

So, why were these "Rafale" jets shot down by China-made Pakistani Air Force aircraft equipped with PL-15 air-to-air missiles? Was it due to India purchasing overrated French weapons and platforms, or simply because the Indian military was unprepared for the impending battle?

Certainly, the internal crisis within the Indian Air Force itself cannot explain the impressive performance of Pakistan's PL-15 missiles against India's so-called air superiority. In other words, while the Indian Air Force faces readiness issues, this cannot conceal the problems with the French weapons and aircraft used by India in its confrontation with Pakistan.

No one should overlook the real progress made by China in producing systems comparable to, and in some cases even better than, expensive and complex Western systems.

????Why Won't Dassault Share Its Source Code with India?

Meanwhile, Indians publicly expressed dissatisfaction with Dassault, the manufacturer of the "Rafale" fighter jets. One of India's biggest grievances against Dassault is that despite being a long-term customer, this French company has consistently refused to share the source code of the "Rafale" fighter jets with the Indian Air Force.

Although some might argue this is to protect Dassault's valuable intellectual property, the truth is that India needs access to the source code to ensure seamless maintenance of avionics and complex mission systems and to maintain key weapon integrations. The failure of Dassault to transfer these to the Indian Air Force will unnecessarily complicate basic combat operations for the Indian Air Force, which has already proven itself unprepared for high-intensity conflicts.

Why has Dassault been reluctant to act? Is it out of fear of intellectual property theft, or is it truly worried that India will witness firsthand how another overpriced, overpromising, underdelivering Western defense contractor suffers significant losses?

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1833438522659852/

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