Italian air force clip misrepresented as exhibition by India fighter jets
- Published on December 5, 2025 at 07:34
- 2 min read
- By Sachin BAGHEL, AFP India
After a fatal crash involving an Indian fighter plane at the Dubai Airshow in November, a video circulated in social media posts falsely claiming it showed Indian Air Force jets putting on a "powerful display" at the same event. The footage in fact shows the Italian Air Force's acrobatics team performing at the Jesolo Air Show several months earlier.
"Indian Air Force Rules Dubai Sky. A powerful display of precision, skill, and dominance," reads both superimposed text as well as the Hindi-language caption of an Instagram video shared on November 23, 2025.
The video shows aircraft flying in formation towards a beach packed with onlookers. The planes then release coloured smoke that together resemble India's national flag.
It surfaced two days after an Indian-made Tejas warplane crashed to the ground in full view of a packed grandstand on the last day of the Dubai Airshow, killing the pilot (archived link).
Dubai's government-run media office confirmed the "tragic death of the pilot" and the Indian Air Force announced an inquiry.
The same video was also shared in similar Instagram and X posts.
The video, however, shows neither an acrobatics display in Dubai nor Indian Air Force jets.
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video found the same footage had previously been posted on YouTube on June 29 (archived link).
Its caption says it shows the Jesolo Air Show, a "popular event held annually in Jesolo, Italy".
Similar footage of planes releasing green, white and red smoke were shared in a video posted on the official Jesolo Tourism Instagram page about the airshow on June 29 (archived link).
Andrea Rossi Tonon, head of the city of Jesolo's press and communications office told AFP on November 27 the video circulating online was filmed during the Jesolo Air Show.
"The aircraft you see performing in the video are those of the National Aerobatic Team (PAN), which Italians are very fond of and call 'Frecce Tricolori' (Tricolour Arrows) because of the tricolour smoke they emit during the performance, representing the national flag," Tonon said.
Italy's green, white and red national flag bears some resemblance to India's national flag, which has horizontal saffron, white and green stripes and a navy blue wheel at its centre.
A subsequent keyword search found a similar video of the acrobatics team's Jesolo performance on the verified Facebook page of the Italian Air Force, as well as an AFP video of a similar performance where the team released the colours of the Italian national flag (archived here and here).
The Indian Air Force is not listed as a participant on the official website of the Jesolo Air Show (archived link).
AFP has previously debunked a similar false claim that misrepresented a display by the Italian Air Force as having been performed by the Indian Air Force.
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