Third Rafale sale on the cards

FRANCE is in multi-billion talks with the United Arab Emirates to buy Dassault Rafale fighters – just weeks after clinching its first deals to buy the plane.

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has been involved in the negotiations and said in Saudi capital Riyadh after a visit to the Middle East that he hoped a third deal was in the offing.

After orders from India and Egypt a third sale of the fighter would be a shot in the arm for the Hollande government as President Sarkozy did not succeed in selling any while in office – and the French plane was becoming a laughing stock after being unsold outside France for nearly 30 years.

It is also a personal success for Mr Hollande as he has been negotiating the fine detail of the inter-governmental contract directly with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi during a four-day visit to France at the weekend.

India has ordered 36 planes in an order estimated at about $4.25billion and they are due to be delivered in about two years.

It had previously said that it wanted 126 Rafales but a deal stalled as it wanted to build 108 of them in India and Dassault refused to take responsibility for their manufacture.

The 36-plane deal is for made-in-France planes, as is the €5.2m Egyptian order for 24 Rafales.

India has said that buying the Rafales ready-to-fly meant that it could get them quicker – it has just 34 air squadrons when its defence needs demand 44 – and could negotiate a tighter price.

Mr Fabius’s Middle Eastern visit could see other orders on the horizon as Qatar is said to be on the verge of ordering 24 Rafales plus an option on another 12 – and Saudi Arabia has made noises about looking for non-American jets.

At present Dassault can build 36 Rafales a year at its Merignac plant at Bordeaux.
Photo: © Dassault Aviation - K. Tokunaga