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Post subject: France could sell 60 Rafale jets to Emirates
Posted: Sat May 23, 2009 11:25 am
Joined: Tue May 19, 2009 11:19 pm Posts: 11
Quote:
PARIS, May 23 (Reuters) - France is finalising the sale of 60 Rafale combat jets made by France's Dassault Aviation (AVMD.PA) to the United Arab Emirates in a deal worth 6-8 billion euros ($8-11 billion), a newspaper reported on Saturday.
France has so far failed to find a foreign buyer for the Rafale jet. Newspaper Le Parisien said President Nicolas Sarkozy would personally push the talks in a visit to Abu Dhabi on Monday and Tuesday.
"An enormous contract, concerning the sale of 60 planes for a total amount of 6 to 8 billion euros - over the space of several years - is being finalised with the United Arab Emirates," the newspaper said.
Citing a source close to the negotiations, it said the talks were extremely complex because the Rafale, which was developed years ago, would have to be upgraded to convince the buyers.
The Rafale is France's most sophisticated combat aircraft, combining both fighter and bomber roles, but it has lost out to rivals offering cheaper, less high-tech models. (Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
PARIS, May 23 (Reuters) - Dassault Aviation (AVMD.PA) is in talks with the United Arab Emirates over a possible order for its Rafale fighter jets, the company said on Saturday, in what would be the first sale of the aircraft to a foreign buyer.
Newspaper Le Parisien reported earlier on Saturday that France was finalising the sale of 60 Rafale jets in a deal worth 6-8 billion euros ($8-11 billion).
The paper said President Nicolas Sarkozy would personally push the issue in a visit to Abu Dhabi on Monday and Tuesday.
Dassault declined to confirm the figures and said an agreement may be reached this year.
"There are negotiations with the Emirates but it will still take a while. We aren't close to finalising a contract in the next few days," a spokesman for Dassault said, adding that the talks were extremely complex.
Le Parisien said the contract under negotiation would cover several years. Citing a source close to the negotiations, it said the Rafale, which was developed years ago, would have to be upgraded to convince the buyers.
France has so far failed to find a foreign buyer for the Rafale jet. It is France's most sophisticated combat aircraft, combining both fighter and bomber roles, but it has lost out to rivals offering cheaper, less high-tech models. (Reporting by Laure Bretton; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
Anybody who can speculate on what upgrades that are needed to "convince the buyers"?
Post subject: Re: France could sell 60 Rafale jets to Emirates
Posted: Sat May 23, 2009 11:30 pm
Joined: Wed May 20, 2009 9:55 pm Posts: 4
Loke wrote:
Anybody who can speculate on what upgrades that are needed to "convince the buyers"?
They probably want new radar with a better range (they don’t have AWACS) And with the new engine they want a more stealthy air intake.
I also heard that they want to buy SCALP, its maybe because they want the SCALP and not Storm Shadow (or because my interlocutor doesn’t know the existence of an export version of SCALP). If they refuse the export version, it’s to have a better range, so they probably want also CFT. CFT could also use for a heavy configuration with short range (or without releaseble tank with only bomb) seeing that Iranian border are less than 300 km from Emirate border.
I remember Libya want to buy their rafale in the same contract with Emirates to receive same rafale. So we probably need consider Libyan use. Personally I think that Kadhafi prefer bomber than fighter, it’s more credible for only 12 planes. In this case, they need rafale with SCALP but I’m not sure that we agree to replace Libyan Tu 22 Blinder.
EDIT: They required increasing the MTOW of their mirage 2000-9, so they probably require increasing also the MTOW of the rafale. And Dassault tells that a MTOW of 27,200 Kg is possible for 2013.
Post subject: Re: France could sell 60 Rafale jets to Emirates
Posted: Sun May 24, 2009 4:02 pm
Joined: Wed May 20, 2009 7:54 pm Posts: 6
Quote:
I also heard that they want to buy SCALP, its maybe because they want the SCALP and not Storm Shadow (or because my interlocutor doesn’t know the existence of an export version of SCALP). If they refuse the export version, it’s to have a better range, so they probably want also CFT. CFT could also use for a heavy configuration with short range (or without releaseble tank with only bomb) seeing that Iranian border are less than 300 km from Emirate border.
.
The storm shadow is the british version of the scalp, not the export version. BTW, the UAE already operate the scalp on their 2000-9. they call it the black shaheen.
Post subject: Re: France could sell 60 Rafale jets to Emirates
Posted: Sun May 24, 2009 4:13 pm
Joined: Fri May 22, 2009 8:03 pm Posts: 13
Kovy wrote:
The storm shadow is the british version of the scalp, not the export version. BTW, the UAE already operate the scalp on their 2000-9. they call it the black shaheen.
And it seems they also got 1bnUSD worth of Exocet...
The UAE has also bought about $1bn of Exocet missiles from MBDA of France, according to the Baynuna Group, which is based in Abu Dhabi, and in February set up a joint venture with MBDA on establishing a local missile maintenance centre.
Post subject: Re: France could sell 60 Rafale jets to Emirates
Posted: Sun May 24, 2009 9:27 pm
Joined: Wed May 20, 2009 12:01 pm Posts: 39
They want AESA, METEOR and 90kN engines for sure. It appears that they also ask for new missile configurations (including using outer underwing pylons that are not used by the Armée de l'Air for now) and bombs configurations (with the ability to carry up to 14 GBU-12/22 or AASM). I also heard about a twin-Exocet configuration, but that's just an idea for the moment.
Later they could receive CFT, new OSF-IR etc...
The work for the AESA, the third underwing pylon and the new engine already start, even before the purchase is actually signed. For the other options, we'll see only AFTER any agreement is complete.
Post subject: Re: France could sell 60 Rafale jets to Emirates
Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 5:52 pm
Joined: Wed May 20, 2009 12:01 pm Posts: 39
14 GBU:
-3 under each underwing pylons (3X4 = 12) -2 under the belly, probably with the same dual ejector rack that used under the Mirage 2000
That's 14 GBU-12/22/AASM under each Rafale.
That's probably the easy part: the two inner underwing pylons are always used for 2000 and 1250 litres tanks buy the French forces, but they are clear for weapons. Actually, those pylons were intensively used for weapon carriage during trials: Apache and Scalp-EG were carried one those pylons before they were cleared under the outter underwing pylons. They are probably OK for triple bombs carriage.
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