A recent US report has exposed a coordinated Chinese disinformation campaign targeting India’s Rafale fighter jets in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor, detailing how AI-generated images and fabricated debris photos were used to malign the aircraft and promote the rival J-35. The operation, which involved Rafale jets in a high-stakes regional context, became the pretext for a digital influence push that was amplified by Pakistani channels and echoed in Indian political debate by the Congress party. By formally attributing these narratives to a state-backed effort, the US assessment has shifted the Rafale controversy from partisan allegation to documented information warfare.
Operation Sindoor: The Trigger for Disinformation
Operation Sindoor is described in Indian coverage as the pivotal military engagement that placed the Rafale at the center of a live operational scenario against adversaries, creating both strategic leverage for New Delhi and a propaganda opening for its rivals. In the weeks that followed, online claims began to circulate that the French-built fighter had underperformed, with anonymous accounts and partisan commentators questioning its survivability and suggesting unexplained losses, even though official Indian briefings did not confirm any such failures. The gap between what the Indian military publicly acknowledged and what appeared on social media created fertile ground for external actors to insert fabricated “evidence” and shape perceptions of the operation’s outcome.
According to detailed reconstructions of the information battle that followed, the aftermath of Operation Sindoor quickly became a contested narrative space in which China and Pakistan sought to blunt the Rafale’s psychological and deterrent impact. Reports on the US assessment indicate that Beijing’s influence apparatus treated the operation as an opportunity to undermine confidence in India’s new frontline fighter, while simultaneously elevating the image of the Chinese J-35 as a more capable alternative in the region. By tying their messaging to a real Indian operation, the disinformation architects could present their content as plausible commentary on recent events, raising the stakes for India’s military reputation and for regional arms competition.
China-Pakistan Tactics in the Campaign
The most striking element of the campaign, as reconstructed by Indian outlets, was the systematic use of synthetic media to fabricate battlefield “proof” against the Rafale. An investigation into the digital traces of the operation found that Chinese and Pakistani aligned accounts circulated AI-generated images purporting to show damaged Rafale airframes, cockpit failures and crash sites that could not be matched to any verified incident. One detailed account of these methods explains how China-Pakistan used AI-generated images and gaming graphics during Operation Sindoor against India’s Rafale to push the J-35, underscoring how generative tools have lowered the cost of producing convincing but entirely fabricated visuals.
Alongside AI imagery, the same investigation notes that gaming graphics and footage from commercial simulators were repurposed as supposed combat video, with Rafale models shown being “shot down” by J-35 lookalikes in highly stylized sequences. These clips, stripped of their original context, were pushed through social media pages that had previously posted generic aviation content, giving them a veneer of authenticity to casual viewers. By presenting the J-35 as consistently dominant in these doctored engagements, the campaign not only targeted Indian public opinion but also sought to influence regional buyers and defense commentators who track comparative performance claims between frontline fighters.
US Report’s Key Exposures
The turning point came when a US report, described in Indian coverage as a formal assessment of foreign information manipulation, explicitly identified China’s state-run ecosystem as the driver of the anti-Rafale narratives that surged after Operation Sindoor. One account of the findings notes that the assessment, released in late November 2025, traced clusters of coordinated posts, shared imagery and talking points back to Chinese-linked networks that had previously been observed in other geopolitical influence campaigns. In particular, a detailed explainer on how China’s disinformation campaign against Rafale using AI images during Operation Sindoor was exposed by the US report stresses that this was not an organic debate about the jet’s performance but a deliberate agenda.
Additional coverage of the same assessment highlights that the US report did more than attribute intent, it also debunked specific claims that had circulated widely in Indian and Pakistani online spaces. A separate analysis notes that the US report shows China ran a disinformation campaign against Rafale after Op Sindoor, identifying manipulated photos, miscaptioned videos and recycled images from unrelated conflicts that had been relabeled as Rafale wreckage. By cataloguing these items and demonstrating their origins, the assessment effectively moved the debate from speculation about possible foreign interference to a documented case of state-backed manipulation, raising the diplomatic cost for Beijing and sharpening international focus on the use of AI in military propaganda.
Fabricated Debris and Visual “Proof”
One of the most potent narrative tools in the campaign was the circulation of supposed debris images that claimed to show destroyed Rafale jets after Operation Sindoor. According to Indian reporting on the US findings, these photographs were flagged as composites or misattributed wreckage, in some cases drawn from older accidents involving entirely different aircraft types. A detailed breakdown of the assessment explains that US analysts identified inconsistencies in serial numbers, terrain and paint schemes, which indicated that the images could not plausibly be linked to any Rafale sortie flown in the operation. The exposure of these fabrications matters because crash imagery carries strong emotional weight, and such visuals can quickly erode public confidence in a platform if left unchallenged.
Indian outlets also describe how the US report placed these fake debris photos within a broader pattern of visual manipulation that included AI-generated crash scenes and heavily edited “after action” montages. One video-focused investigation, presented as an exclusive breakdown of the campaign, shows how China’s disinformation campaign was exposed and its anti-Rafale agenda debunked by matching online images to their original, unrelated sources. By publicly walking through these comparisons, the coverage not only reinforces the credibility of the US assessment but also provides a practical case study in how open-source verification can counter sophisticated visual propaganda, a lesson with implications for journalists, fact-checkers and defense analysts across the region.
Indian Political Repercussions
Beyond the military and diplomatic dimensions, the US report has had immediate reverberations inside India’s domestic politics, particularly around the role of the Congress party in amplifying narratives that now appear to have originated in Chinese influence channels. Indian coverage notes that opposition leaders had, during and after Operation Sindoor, raised pointed questions about the Rafale’s performance and cost, at times citing or echoing claims that mirrored those circulating in Pakistani and Chinese-aligned online spaces. A political analysis asks bluntly why Congress echoed China’s Rafale fake narrative after the US report exposed China’s disinformation drive, framing the issue as one of accountability for repeating unverified allegations that foreign actors had seeded.
According to that analysis, the revelation that specific talking points about alleged Rafale failures can be traced back to a documented Chinese disinformation effort has sharpened the debate over how Indian parties should handle defense-related controversies. Critics of the Congress leadership argue that, by aligning their rhetoric with narratives now linked to Beijing’s agenda, they inadvertently lent domestic legitimacy to a foreign propaganda line aimed at weakening India’s deterrent posture. Supporters of the party counter that robust scrutiny of major defense deals remains essential in a democracy, and that the responsibility for countering foreign manipulation lies primarily with state institutions and independent media. The US report’s findings, however, have clearly raised the stakes for all political actors, signaling that future debates over strategic platforms like the Rafale will be judged not only on their partisan content but also on their susceptibility to external information warfare.
