Why ‘shooting down’ fighter jets has become central to narrative setting

When Israel and the United States attacked Iran on February 28, another skirmish was underway between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

That morning, Afghan spokespersons claimed that a Pakistani fighter jet had been shot down in Jalalabad and the pilot captured.

The claim was quickly picked up by Afghan and global media, and social media engagement accounts. Videos online showed what appeared to be a red parachute and a crowd gathered on the roadside. There was no real wreckage, no pilot in a flight suit.

When the claim was disproved, news organisations removed their posts or added Pakistan’s denial. The viral videos had been unrelated to the fighting along the Durand Line.

This was not the first false claim shared on social media about the Afghan Taliban shooting down Pakistani fighter jets.

Such assertions about downed jets are now an unmistakable global pattern. While the number of jets a country loses may not be a measure of who comes out of the conflict with the upper hand, the claims, even if they are disproved later, have become an important weapon in a country’s online narrative battle.

That is why such claims are often grossly exaggerated or outright false.

This pattern of claims and counter-claims keeps on being repeated.

The most prominent recent example of this pattern is the four-day conflict in May between India and Pakistan.

When India struck sites it claimed were terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Islamabad quickly claimed that it had shot down Indian fighter jets during air-to-air combat.

The number of claimed hits increased, without much explanation, to seven jets in December from the five mentioned in the early hours of the fighting.

India acknowledged losing aircraft in the conflict’s initial phase, but has not disclosed the number of planes lost.

New Delhi made its own claims. Shortly after the ceasefire, the Indian Air Force claimed that Pakistan had lost “a few” aircraft during the fighting. Months later, India claimed that five Pakistani jets of the US-built F-16 and Chinese-made JF-17 classes, and a large military aircraft had been shot down during the conflict.

Islamabad has rejected the claims.

Adding to the confusion, US President Donald Trump has not missed an opportunity to repeatedly say that jets were being downed during the India-Pakistan conflict. While he has never said who the jets belonged to, his number increased in February to 11 from five he mentioned in July.

The optics of losing jets

Sometimes the claims are made by governments. But often these are made by proxy, by keyboard warriors or a pliant media. This gives the government deniability.

The first mover has an advantage, and the truth and the details get drowned out in the fog of war.

The imagery of jets being shot down is emotive and it is capable of planting doubts in an adversary’s population.

This reminds me of what Jaswant Singh, India’s external affairs minister during the Kargil War and a former Army officer, wrote in his 2006 memoir.

“It was my view that the use of the Air Force at this point [during the Kargil War] was not good policy,” he wrote. “My reservations were born of two or three principal considerations. Should the adversary be determined to escalate the conflict, as all his early actions demonstrated, then we ought to be prepared for air casualties.”

The Wire quotes his memoir as adding that: “The difficulty with air casualties, as against casualties on land, is principally of imagery. The sheer optical value of the Air Force is so much greater, particularly in a limited and contained conflict. That is why the loss of an aircraft becomes so instantly an issue that catches the public eye, as compared to the loss of even a platoon of infantry.”

A platoon can consist of up to 50 soldiers.

Today, this tactic of psychological warfare is aggravated by social media.

The economics of the claims

There is also an economic angle to claims about jets being shot down and their type.

Countries around the world spent around $2.6 trillion on weapons in 2025.

In November, the US government took note of reports that China had launched a disinformation campaign after Operation Sindoor to undermine the reliability of the French-built Rafale, hoping to sway opinion in favour of its own fifth-generation J-35 fighter jets.

The US report noted that the Chinese campaign used fake social media accounts to spread artificial intelligence-generated photos of supposed debris from Indian fighter jets that Chinese weapons allegedly destroyed.

The annual report by an independent committee, which provides recommendations to the US government on matters pertaining to China such as trade and national security, was submitted to the US Congress.

It said that Pakistan’s use of Chinese weapons “to down French Rafale fighter jets used by India also became a particular selling point for Chinese embassy defence sales efforts”.

Of course, losses are to be expected in combat, as Air Marshal AK Bharti told a press conference in May.

What we see on social media is not a constructive discussion about the gaps in tactics or concerns for human life. It is more about dominating the narrative, planting doubts and inflicting psychological wounds on the opponent.

That is why we will continue seeing such claims.

Here is a summary of last week’s top stories.

Conflict at India’s doorstep. The United States said its submarines had sunk an Iranian warship off the Sri Lankan coast on Wednesday. The frigate, the IRIS Dena, was attacked using a torpedo, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

While more than 80 personnel were killed, 61 were missing and 32 had been rescued by the Sri Lanka Navy. The incident occurred on the fifth day of Israel-US’ attacks on Iran.

From February 16 to February 25, the warship had attended an International Fleet Review in Vishakhapatnam, along with ships from several other countries.

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi declared that the US would “bitterly regret” the action. He added that the ship was “a guest of India’s Navy” and had been struck without warning.

Retired Indian admirals, former diplomats and geopolitical analysts described the incident as a “strategic embarrassment” to the Indian government and a “blow to its regional credibility”.

Political churn. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that he will contest the March 16 Rajya Sabha polls and, if elected, is expected to step down from his position in the state. This has led to speculation that his son, Nishant Kumar, could be made the deputy chief minister and that a Bharatiya Janata Party leader could take over as the chief minister.

The Opposition criticised the move as a betrayal of the people’s mandate. The Kumar-led alliance had won the Assembly polls in November.

Bihar has five vacant Rajya Sabha seats, with National Democratic Alliance candidates likely to secure four unopposed.

Also on Scroll last week

• ‘A part of our belief system’: Why Muslims in Kashmir and across India are mourning Khamenei
• The fight to make HIV ‘wonder drug’ affordable for Indians
• Why the US-Iran war will hurt India more than China
• As polls knock, why is Bengal’s SIR in a state of chaos with no end in sight?
• ‘Nobody could sleep last night’: Indian workers on edge as Iran attacks Dubai, Doha
• As Mumbai’s Iranis mourn Khamenei, the city’s only Persian sweet shop looks at a bleak Nowruz
• Why Chhattisgarh’s midday meal workers have not given up their fight for better pay
• Why Bangladesh’s new government has no elbow room for any economic errors
• ‘It Was Just An Accident’ review: A raw, powerful debate on justice and revenge in Iran
• ‘Subedaar’ review: One random provocation after another

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