RAFALE CONTROVERSY U.S. LOST 63 MILITARY AIRCRAFT IN 1991 BUT WON THE GULF WAR

U.S. LOST 63 MILITARY AIRCRAFT IN 1991 BUT WON THE GULF WAR

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If the Pakistani authorities and some quarters in the Western media are to be believed, Pakistan emerged as the clear winner in “Operation Sindoor” that India had launched because “India’s air bases and at least six fighter aircraft were destroyed by the Pakistani Air Force”.

Incidentally, one of the Western journalists writing in a British paper made some big claims in favour of Pakistan. He appears to have built close relations with the Pakistani establishment, as he was based in Islamabad for years. But that is a different story.

And then we have a few American publications publishing quite a few articles saying how as many as four IAF aircraft, including French-made Dassault Rafale fighters, were shot down, resulting in “a stunning and even unexpected victory for the PAF, the biggest winner following last week’s aerial dogfight”.

One does not discuss the merits of such arguments, which are literally ludicrous in the absence of verifiable facts. Their writings seemed more like orchestrated propaganda that suited the Chinese-Pakistani narrative of technological superiority.

No Rafale Crash In Wuyan, Kashmir! French Expert Debunks Pakistan's Claim Of Alleged Rafale Shootdown.

The point to ponder over is this — assuming India lost some fighter planes, does that deny India achieving its intended goal of teaching the Pakistan-based terrorists and their military backers a salutary lesson?

Whose DGMO first picked up the phone to talk to his counterpart to stop the aerial war? The answer is too obvious to be elaborated on.

That a real winner in a war has to be the party that does not incur any loss is something that even any fiction writer or a writer of comics on war will not venture. However, the fact that some Western journalists have done so to gladden the hearts of Pakistan and China reflects on the credibility of the publications concerned.