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February 1, 2021 | International, Aerospace

France begins backfilling its Rafale fleet after selling some to Greece

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PARIS – The French Air and Space Force will be getting 12 new Rafales to replace those being removed from its inventory to sell to Greece, Defense Minister Florence Parly said on Friday.

The announcement comes a few weeks later than originally planned. Florence Parly had told the National Assembly's Defense Commission last fall that the order would be placed with Dassault Aviation, the Rafale's manufacturer, before the end of 2020. But that was on the provision that the $3 billion contract with Greece for 18 Rafales had been signed by then.

That Greek contract was signed four days ago so Parly took the opportunity of a visit to Dassault Aviation's flight controls factory in Argonay, in the French Alps on Jan. 29 to announce the new order. Eric Trappier, Dassault's CEO, had earlier underlined the fact that “Dassault is the only aircraft manufacturer in the world to design and produce its own flight controls.”

Contracts to Dassault Aviation, Safran (the engine manufacturer) and Thales (the electronics) will be sent out by the DGA procurement agency in the next few days. While no price tag was given during Parly's announcement, Trappier has previously said one fully equipped fighter costs around 100 million euros, or $121 million, which would put the total package at just under $1.5 billion.

Parly said the 12 new aircraft would be built to the latest F3R standard. She added, “We sold 18 Rafales to Greece so it is indeed 18 Rafales that Dassault will have to produce.” Speaking at the factory, the defense minister said one Rafale would come off the production line per month, “which represents 7,000 jobs, jobs within Dassault of course, but also within the 500 or so small and medium enterprises that work with you.” She added that in the current economic context “this is good and reassuring news”.

The French Air and Space Force will have its 12 new aircraft by the end of 2025. Together with the 28 Rafales that Dassault is to deliver between 2022 and 2024, this will bring the total to 129, as projected in the 2019-2025 military program law.

https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2021/01/29/france-begins-backfilling-its-rafale-fleet-after-selling-some-to-greece

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  • US appears to confirm expanded F-15QA buy for Qatar

    July 6, 2020 | International, Aerospace

    US appears to confirm expanded F-15QA buy for Qatar

    by Gareth Jennings The United States appears to have confirmed an expanded procurement by Qatar of the Boeing F-15QA Advanced Eagle combat aircraft, with recent Department of Defense (DoD) articles and notifications referring to a larger number than officially contracted. The Gulf state is currently contracted to receive 36 of the latest-generation multirole fighters, with a deal signed in December 2017. However, since at least late-May the DoD has issued no fewer than three official statements in which it has referred to a buy of 48 aircraft. The US State Department initially cleared Qatar to buy 72 aircraft, so this expanded procurement would be in line with current Congressional approvals. On 23 May the DoD disclosed that the US Army Corps of Engineers had contracted Doha-based company BAH-ICM JV to build facilities for the Qatar Emiri Air Force's (QEAF's) new fleet. In the notification, the department said; “The Foreign Military Sales (FMS) purchase of forty-eight (48) F-15QA aircraft improves the State of Qatar's capability to meet current and future enemy air-to-air and air-to-ground threats”. Janes noted this discrepancy in the numbers at the time, but as it was the first such occurrence this suggested that it may have been in error. https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/us-appears-to-confirm-expanded-f-15qa-buy-for-qatar

  • Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - September 18, 2019

    September 19, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

    Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - September 18, 2019

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  • Naval Group trumpets its Australian industry focus in submarine deal

    March 31, 2021 | International, Naval

    Naval Group trumpets its Australian industry focus in submarine deal

    The French shipbuilder has committed to spending 60 percent of the Attack-class submarine program's value in Australia.

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