On 7 July, Indian media outlet The Print reported that Dassault Aviation CEO Éric Trappier had claimed one Indian Rafale may have been lost during a high-altitude training mission due to technical failure, citing the aircraft's SPECTRA system, which had detected no signs of hostile engagement, as evidence. However Dassault Aviation later claimed the reports were incorrect and issued a clarification: "In response to certain press reports quoting Dassault Aviation Chairman & CEO, Eric Trappier, about the Sindoor operation, Dassault Aviation formally denies that Eric Trappier has made any operational or technical comments regarding the use of the Rafale in this operation."[259][260][261]
On 8 July, Indian media outlets attributed a statement to Ryan Bodenheimer, described as a former U.S. Air Force pilot, who claimed that India's use of the Rafale's X-Guard decoy system during recent operations was “the best spoofing and deception we’ve ever seen.” According to him, the small 30 kg device allegedly misled Pakistan's Chinese-made PL-15E missiles and J-10C fighter jets into targeting decoys instead of actual aircraft. According to Business Today, citing Jane’s Defence Weekly, some Pakistani claims of downing Rafales may have been hits on these decoys rather than the actual aircraft.[262]
