India Removed Wreckage of Rafale Fighter Jet, BBC Finds Evidence

Rafale: India’s Most Advanced and Lethal Fighter Jet Reportedly Shot Down, BBC Verifies Video Evidence The Rafale, manufactured by France's Dassault Aviation, is regarded as the Indian Air Force’s most modern and powerful combat aircraft.

Last Wednesday, Pakistan claimed it had shot down at least five Indian fighter jets during a recent military operation, alleging that among them were at least three Rafale aircraft.However, no images or video evidence were provided to support this claim, and India did not confirm the incident. As a result, doubts and uncertainty surrounded the matter.

Now, the BBC’s fact-checking division, “BBC Verify,” says it has authenticated three separate video clips that show the wreckage of French-made Rafale aircraft—jets known to be in use by the Indian Air Force.One of the videos was traced to an area near Bathinda in the Indian state of Punjab, showing military personnel collecting and removing debris from the crash site.

BBC Verify has also obtained two additional nighttime videos from the same location. One shows wreckage scattered in an agricultural field. In the other, a projectile appears to catch fire mid-air, followed by a large blaze on the ground, likely caused by the crash.

Justin Crump, a former officer in the British Army and currently the head of a risk intelligence company, informed BBC Verify that he suspects the wreckage may contain components of a French-manufactured air-to-air missile, which is commonly deployed on both Mirage-2000 and Rafale fighter jets.

A separate image making rounds on social media shows the tail fin of an aircraft lying on the ground, bearing the inscriptions “BS001” and “Rafale” in English.A reverse image search on Google did not turn up any older versions of the photo, suggesting it is recent and possibly authentic.

Meanwhile, India has avoided directly responding to Pakistan’s claims of downing any of its fighter jets. On Thursday, during a second day of briefings about “Operation Sindoor” in Delhi, India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri addressed the media.

When asked about Pakistan’s claims of shooting down five Indian jets, Misri said, “The government will share information on this matter at an appropriate time.”