French ex-pilot, who claimed IAF lost Rafales, praised Chinese jets, held for spying for China
A former French Navy pilot was detained and probed in France over allegations that he passed sensitive military information to China. The pilot, Pierre-Henri Chuet, had claimed that India lost Rafale jets during Operation Sindoor to Pakistan's Chinese warplanes.
A former French Navy pilot was detained and is being investigated in France for passing on sensitive military information to Chinese operatives.
The pilot, Pierre-Henri Chuet, sparked controversy in May 2025 by questioning the performance of the Indian Air Force's (IAF's) Rafale fighter jets during Operation Sindoor. He had praised Chinese-made fighters such as the J-10C and JF-17 as "Rafale killers".
Rafales, which are the most advanced jets used by the IAF, are made by France's Dassault Aviation.
Chuet has been charged over suspicions he collected and provided classified information to China, according to prosecutors in Paris, according to French investigative outlets, Le Canard Enchaine (The Chained Duck) and Mediapart.
He has been released after being detained but is now under investigation.
Chuet, a dual French-Canadian national, served in the French Navy’s naval aviation until around 2021. During his career he flew Super Etendard strike fighters and Rafale M multirole fighters from the country's only serving aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle.
According to reports in French media outlets, he is alleged to have made at least two undeclared trips to China in September 2018 and August 2019 while still serving in the French Navy.
During those trips, he allegedly organised training sessions for Chinese military pilots, arranged via a South African aviation company, and may have shared sensitive operational and tactical knowledge. He is now reportedly been placed under a formal investigation after being questioned by the DGSI (France's primary domestic intelligence and counter-terrorism agency) and having his home searched during the week of 20 July 2026.
Chuet has denied the allegations, telling Le Canard Enchaine that he only organised a couple of seminars and that the trips "did not go well". He faces multiple charges, including sharing intelligence with a foreign power, disclosure of national defence secrets, and related offences, and has been placed under judicial supervision.
WHY IS FORMER FRENCH NAVY PILOT HENRI CHUET UNDER INVESTIGATION IN FRANCE?
Allegations that Henri Chuet had passed on sensitive military information to China first surfaced in 2023 and then again in 2025. During those two years, Le Canard Enchaine and Mediapart reported that Chuet made two trips to China in 2018 and 2019 while still serving as a pilot in the French Navy, without informing his commanding officers as required under French military regulations.
The trips were allegedly funded by a flying school based in South Africa, named TFASA (Test Flying Academy of South Africa), and saw Chuet organise training sessions for Chinese military pilots, including instruction on carrier operations.
According to the Meidapart report, the 2018 first seminar covered the technologies used for carrier landings, while the second focused on more extensive aircraft carrier operations, including training for naval aviators and landing signal officers (LSOs), the E-2C Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft, and recent Western military operations in Syria.
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