Dassault Rafale - Updates and Discussion

Resumption of Rafale deliveries to France​


(Saint-Cloud, France, January 10, 2023) –

On 29 December 2022, Dassault Aviation’s Mérignac plant delivered Rafale B359 (F3R standard) to the Direction Générale de l’Armement (French defense procurement agency).

This event marks the resumption of Rafale deliveries to France after an interruption of four years.

The Rafale B359 is for the French Air and Space Force. It is part of the “tranche 4” order for 60 aircraft awarded in 2009. In accordance with the various Military Programming Acts, deliveries to France were interrupted for budgetary reasons. The Rafale production line was then dedicated to export orders.

A further 27 Rafale are still to be delivered for tranche 4, plus 12 Rafale ordered by France in 2021 to make up for the 12 aircraft sold to Greece.
Tranche 5 should be awarded in 2023. (This tranche has already been decided by the government and will be 42 aircraft, 12 of which will compensate for the sale of second-hand Rafales to Croatia.)

In the current strategic context, the Dassault Aviation group is particularly proud to be a partner in equipping and supporting the French air force, as it has done for more than a century.

ABOUT DASSAULT AVIATION​

With over 10,000 military and civil aircraft (including 2,500 Falcons) delivered in more than 90 countries over the last century, Dassault Aviation has built up expertise recognized worldwide in the design, development, sale and support of all types of aircraft, ranging from the Rafale fighter, to the high-end Falcon family of business jets, military drones and space systems.

In 2021, Dassault Aviation reported revenues of €7.2 billion.

The company has 12,400 employees.

It is reported that the production for France will be 13 aircraft in 2023 and will continue at this rate until 2027, the production for France in the following years will depend on the constraints of export knowing that a trance 6 of 15 aircraft is planned.
 
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Picdelamirand-oil said:

Resumption of Rafale deliveries to France​


(Saint-Cloud, France, January 10, 2023) –

On 29 December 2022, Dassault Aviation’s Mérignac plant delivered Rafale B359 (F3R standard) to the Direction Générale de l’Armement (French defense procurement agency).

This event marks the resumption of Rafale deliveries to France after an interruption of four years.

The Rafale B359 is for the French Air and Space Force. It is part of the “tranche 4” order for 60 aircraft awarded in 2009. In accordance with the various Military Programming Acts, deliveries to France were interrupted for budgetary reasons. The Rafale production line was then dedicated to export orders.

A further 27 Rafale are still to be delivered for tranche 4, plus 12 Rafale ordered by France in 2021 to make up for the 12 aircraft sold to Greece.
Tranche 5 should be awarded in 2023. (This tranche has already been decided by the government and will be 42 aircraft, 12 of which will compensate for the sale of second-hand Rafales to Croatia.)

In the current strategic context, the Dassault Aviation group is particularly proud to be a partner in equipping and supporting the French air force, as it has done for more than a century.

ABOUT DASSAULT AVIATION​

With over 10,000 military and civil aircraft (including 2,500 Falcons) delivered in more than 90 countries over the last century, Dassault Aviation has built up expertise recognized worldwide in the design, development, sale and support of all types of aircraft, ranging from the Rafale fighter, to the high-end Falcon family of business jets, military drones and space systems.

In 2021, Dassault Aviation reported revenues of €7.2 billion.

The company has 12,400 employees.

It is reported that the production for France will be 13 aircraft in 2023 and will continue at this rate until 2027, the production for France in the following years will depend on the constraints of export knowing that a trance 6 of 15 aircraft is planned.
Click to expand...
https://twitter.com/x/status/1613061642484592640
Picdelamirand-oil said:
It is reported that the production for France will be 13 aircraft in 2023 and will continue at this rate until 2027, the production for France in the following years will depend on the constraints of export knowing that a trance 6 of 15 aircraft is planned.
Click to expand...
Qatar deliveries completed?
 
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The new aircraft still to be delivered with almost certainty are:
97 for France
31 for Egypt
80 for the UAE
8 for Greece
42 for Indonesia
That is 258 in all, which will mobilise the Mérignac line until 2031, unless we go from 33 Rafales produced per year to 55.
 
I have translated the official DGA press release as it contains some interesting new information.​
Reprise de la livraison d'avions de combat Rafale au ministère des Armées

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Resumption of delivery of Rafale fighter aircraft to the French Ministry of the Armed Forces

Direction : DGA / Published on : 12/01/2023

On December 29, 2022, the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) took delivery of the two-seat Rafale "B359" at the Dassault Aviation site in Mérignac (Gironde). This is the first Rafale produced by Dassault Aviation for the Ministry of the Armed Forces since 2018. In the meantime, the Rafale assembly lines have been dedicated to exports, enabling the delivery of 100 of the 224 new aircraft ordered to date by six other countries.

The B359 is the first of a batch of 40 aircraft for the French Air Force (39) and DGA Essais en Vol (one aircraft dedicated to testing) to be delivered by the end of 2025, with 13 scheduled for 2023. At the end of this period, a total of 192* new Rafales will have been delivered to the Ministry of the Armed Forces since the end of September 1999. An order for 42 additional Rafales for the forces is planned for 2023.

The Rafale fighter aircraft is an armament programme of the Ministry of the Armed Forces led by the DGA, based on a development by successive standards, for the Air Force and the French Navy. To date, since 1993, 192 Rafales have been ordered by the DGA from the Rafale economic interest group (made up of Dassault Aviation, Safran and Thales), 152 of which were delivered before the B359 was delivered.

The 152nd aircraft, the two-seat Rafale B358, had been delivered to the French Air Force in November 2018. Since then, deliveries for France have been halted in favour of exclusive manufacturing for Rafale export customers.

The two-seat Rafale B359 is the first of a batch of 40 aircraft to be delivered by the end of 2025, all of which are destined for the French Air Force, with the exception of the last one, which will be transformed into a test bed aircraft for development tests. This batch of 40 aircraft includes 12 aircraft, ordered in early 2021 to replace 12 Rafales sold second-hand to Greece.

The Rafale B359 has been delivered to the F3R standard, which is the standard of the entire Rafale fleet currently in service with the French military. However, compared to the aircraft in service, it also incorporates hardware and software upgrades, directly resulting from developments carried out in the context of the export market. The Rafale B359 will be used to implement the F4.1** standard, which is currently being approved by the DGA's technical authority with a view to its deployment starting in 2023.



* Of which four are dedicated to industrial development tests (two two-seater, one single-seater airplane and one single-seater navy aircraft), 142 for the French Air Force, 45 for the French Navy and one for the French Defence Procurement Agency.

** The F4.1 standard is the first brick of the F4 standard. It includes collaborative air combat capabilities, the integration of the 1000kg AASM weapon, and a strengthening of the aircraft against cyber threats.
 
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BMD said:
www.opex360.com

Pour l'aviation de chasse française, 2023 sera une année "très compliquée", selon le chef d'état-major de l'armée de l'Air - Zone Militaire

Lors de son audition au Sénat à l'occasion des discussions budgétaires de fin d'année , le chef d'état-major de l'armée de l'Air & de l'Espace , le
www.opex360.com www.opex360.com
Click to expand...
BMD said:
“For lack of a sufficient number of Rafale, pilots on 2000 C could not switch to Rafale."
Click to expand...
This is a lie to stop an unpleasant phenomenon for the air force, because it limits its margins of manoeuvre in the event of a high intensity conflict.

Because we know that we are missing 6 planes sold to the Greeks and that this year the Rafales have flown 275 hours. Now 6 planes represent 6% of the fleet but 7% of the 86 planes that are not stored and 7% of 250 hours make 17.5 hours whereas our Rafales currently fly 275 hours per year instead of 250, i.e. 10% more. We are therefore maintaining the flying hours of our pilots, and we intend to maintain them despite the total deduction of 12 aircraft for Greece and 12 aircraft for Croatia, since it is planned to do this only in parallel with supplies and by increasing the number of flying hours of the Rafale to 300 per year.
 
Rajput Lion said:
they have started work on 6th gen version of Su-57
Click to expand...
With all the hundreds od SU-57 flying, it's time. It seems all the planes are going update 6th gen. I'm starting to feel sorry for the 5th gen F-35. It doesn't even do a proper supercruise. About 20 countries obviously got it wrong.
 
New contract for Dassault Rafale :

www.airforce-technology.com

Iraq's Air Force modernisation accelerates with new aircraft

As part of its military reform program, Iraq is investing in its air force by procuring new aircraft, including Rafale jets from Dassault.
www.airforce-technology.com www.airforce-technology.com

In line with this objective, Iraq has recently finalised a contract with Dassault Aviation to purchase 14 units of Rafale aircraft. The $3.2bn allocation for this contract aims to replace the country’s ageing F-16IQ jets, which have proven challenging to maintain.
 
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Herciv said:
New contract for Dassault Rafale :

www.airforce-technology.com

Iraq's Air Force modernisation accelerates with new aircraft

As part of its military reform program, Iraq is investing in its air force by procuring new aircraft, including Rafale jets from Dassault.
www.airforce-technology.com www.airforce-technology.com

In line with this objective, Iraq has recently finalised a contract with Dassault Aviation to purchase 14 units of Rafale aircraft. The $3.2bn allocation for this contract aims to replace the country’s ageing F-16IQ jets, which have proven challenging to maintain.
Click to expand...
So, Which part made you most Happy, This one :" Iraq has recently finalised a contract with Dassault Aviation to purchase 14 units of Rafale aircraft."
or This one: ".......... to replace the country’s ageing F-16IQ jets, which have proven challenging to maintain."
 
GaN Radar RBE2X for Rafale Block V enters development phase.

www.journal-aviation.com

« La préparation du standard F5 du Rafale se lance aujourd'hui avec le lancement de l'étude de développement de son nouveau radar, le RBE2 XG », Arvind Badrinath, directeur de programme RAFALE à la DGA

« La préparation du standard F5 du Rafale se lance aujourd'hui avec le lancement de l'étude de développement de son nouveau radar, le RBE2 XG », Arvind Badrinath, directeur de programme RAFALE à la DGA
www.journal-aviation.com www.journal-aviation.com

As India prime minister is invited for France Bastide day defile, on the 14th of July, rumors for an extra Rafale order (26 - Navy?) and Scorpene Submarines (6) are rising.

www.bfmtv.com

Rafale, sous-marins: un méga contrat avec l'Inde pointe à l'horizon du 14 juillet

Narendra Modi, Premier ministre indien, sera l’invité d’honneur de la France pour le défilé militaire du 14 juillet. 240 militaires et trois Rafale indiens y participeront. Cette venue pourrait être l'occasion d'annoncer des contrats pour 26 Rafale et 6 sous-marins Scorpene.
www.bfmtv.com www.bfmtv.com
 
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Weird decision:


1689531002015.png
 
RASALGHUL said:
So, Which part made you most Happy, This one :" Iraq has recently finalised a contract with Dassault Aviation to purchase 14 units of Rafale aircraft."
or This one: ".......... to replace the country’s ageing F-16IQ jets, which have proven challenging to maintain."
Click to expand...

Herciv said:
The last in only all airplane life.
Click to expand...

Ageing? Hell, when did Saddam get F-16s? The F-16IQ was delivered only between 2014-17. They are not even close to the word "ageing".

The problem is the Iraqi F-16s are heavily downgraded and lack BVR and equipped with outdated Sparrows. So Rafale became the obvious choice. Egypt faced the same problem, hence the push for Rafale. There's also a possibility that their maintenance issues has a lot more to do with the US creating problems than lack of money. It doesn't make sense that they will buy Rafales for billions instead of just buying more spares and maintenance from LM. Could be a combination of both.

www.thedrive.com

The Iraqi Air Force’s F-16 Fleet Is On The Brink Of Collapse Despite Showy Flybys

A high-profile 23 F-16 flyover may only have served to paper over the cracks in what is an increasingly precarious Iraqi Viper fleet.
www.thedrive.com www.thedrive.com
 
randomradio said:
Ageing? Hell, when did Saddam get F-16s? The F-16IQ was delivered only between 2014-17. They are not even close to the word "ageing".

The problem is the Iraqi F-16s are heavily downgraded and lack BVR and equipped with outdated Sparrows. So Rafale became the obvious choice. Egypt faced the same problem, hence the push for Rafale. There's also a possibility that their maintenance issues has a lot more to do with the US creating problems than lack of money. It doesn't make sense that they will buy Rafales for billions instead of just buying more spares and maintenance from LM. Could be a combination of both.
Click to expand...
America pulled out its tech teams a while ago. The Iraqi technicians don't know how to properly maintain them. There's also Soviet-style corruption issues where they use substandard parts to pocket the cost difference... Needless to say, these shenanigans result in a net decrease in the aircraft's service life.
www.nytimes.com

Iraq’s F-16s Grounded After U.S. Contractor Pulls Maintenance Crews (Published 2021)

The decision by Lockheed Martin, after repeated rocket attacks, highlights the Iraqi government’s failure to rein in militia groups.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
 
A Person said:
America pulled out its tech teams a while ago. The Iraqi technicians don't know how to properly maintain them. There's also Soviet-style corruption issues where they use substandard parts to pocket the cost difference... Needless to say, these shenanigans result in a net decrease in the aircraft's service life.
www.nytimes.com

Iraq’s F-16s Grounded After U.S. Contractor Pulls Maintenance Crews (Published 2021)

The decision by Lockheed Martin, after repeated rocket attacks, highlights the Iraqi government’s failure to rein in militia groups.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
Click to expand...

I wonder how the Iraqis will protect French personnel then. It's a weird situation. Hopefully they fix it.
 
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