Hope that warhead can be swapped for a conventional one. Who do they plan on nuking, the Brits?
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Date Posted: 20-Feb-2004
JANE’S DEFENCE WEEKLY – FEBRUARY 25, 2004
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Rafale fighter to get F3 standard upgrade
J A C LEWIS JDW Correspondent
Paris
Dassault Aviation and its partners in the Rafale multirole fighter programme have been awarded a EUR659 million ($830 million) contract by France’s defence procurement agency to upgrade the aircraft to F3 standard.
The Délégation Générale pour l’Armement said the funding to develop the F3 standard Rafale would go to Dassault, Thales, the European missile group MBDA and France’s Sagem, which is to supply the new Rafale’s flight electronics suite.
The F3 standard is intended primarily to equip Rafale to carry France’s new ASMP-A nuclear-armed standoff air-to-ground missile. The French Air Force is to form its first squadron of 20 nuclear-capable Rafales in 2008, three years after the service forms its first Rafale squadron that will be equipped with F2 standard software.
Dassault believes that the government’s commitment to the F3 will strengthen the company’s bid to supply Singapore with up to 24 new fighters (JDW 11 February). Singapore has said it will make its choice by early 2005 between the three remaining contestants in the competition: the Rafale, the Boeing F-15T Eagle and the Eurofighter Typhoon (JDW 18 February).
Singapore authorities have long made it clear they would be interested only in the F3 standard Rafale. Dassault chairman Charles Edelstenne said last week that Singapore “will be pleased to see we are sticking by our word to present the F3 standard.” Winning the Singapore competition would be the first export order for Rafale.
Edelstenne said Dassault’s share of the development contract worked out to EUR457 million while Thales, which is developing a new radar for the aircraft, will get EUR100 million.
It is thought the companies are ready to put additional money of their own into the development programme. They once estimated that an export version of Rafale with improved radar and more powerful engine would cost EUR1.3 billion to develop.
It was initially planned that the F3 standard would also involve increasing the thrust of the Rafale’s SNECMA engine from 7.5 tons to 9 tons but no funding has been provided for this.
In addition to providing France’s air-launched nuclear deterrent, the F3 standard will have a better anti-ship and reconnaissance capability than earlier versions of the fighter.
Separately, Dassault announced last week that its net earnings in 2003 had fallen by 5.4% to EUR 295 million because of a sharp drop in sales of the group’s Falcon business jet. Revenue was down by 4% to EUR3.3 billion compared to 2002.Dassault’s revenue rose to 49% against 35% in 2002 after the fall in civil aircraft sales. The military side’s EUR1.6 billion revenue in 2003 came largely from deliveries of Mirage 2000 fighters to Greece and the United Arab Emirates.
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February 26, 2004 at 9:08 pm