how you know this fact that they dont need new fighters?.
perhaps some thing to do with erratic french politics of blindly following qatar.

And new fighters for what exactly ? The “threat” now is Iran, the quality of their fleet is already well above what Iranian AF have now AND of course, in case of war, USA and France would protect the country, so, no need for fighters.

You’re right to say that Qatar has some real influence over french politics, but as far as I know, we have a base and a strategic relation with UAE, not Qatar.

By the way, why are potential Rafale clients holding their breath until the Indian negotiations are concluded? I am just interested to know.

Why ? Because should India buy Rafale, even with their own production plant, many sub-system should have a much better production rate, so, better quality and certainly better price.

UAE Halts Talks to Buy French Rafale Fighter Jets -Report

Bad, baaad translation 😮

Strange that the minister was told that UAE intends to reduce its military spending on French equipment to 10% from a previous level of 70%. What happened? I know that UAE were not happy with negotiations re: Rafale but this sounds like them saying that they no longer want to deal with France.

Bring on the speculation about them buying something else…

The minister said that during a previous period of time, 70% of military spending went to french companies while today, on the same period of time, only 10% went to french companies.
The fact is that the big issue with selling the Rafale is that UAE don’t need new planes, F-16E or Mirage 2000-9 are still good for their job BUT french official tried to shove it in Emiratis throats, which become an issue to see OTHER french products like Nexter VBCI.

Anyway, with the ongoing discussion with India, it’s not a surprise that any potential customer of Rafale is holding his breath, waiting for the final decision.
If you wan to be more cynic, another issue is that UAE asked many many things to France, got 99% of them, so, obviously they must think of another “gift”. :diablo:

It would obviously have had an avionics suite similar to what the Mirage 2000 finally got.

Except a much more powerful radar. 😀

I suppose its ironic then that today France is spearheading the multinational nEUROn program while the UK has opted to independently develop the Taranis. 🙂

You must remind the criticism from Dassault at that time. They said that companies must be used as an efficient piece of the industrial puzzle.
SAAB was welcome as a member bringing real value.

About the Rafale:
http://www.air-cosmos.com/defense/rafale-un-standard-f3-r-pour-2018.html

Standard F3-R in 2018:
– Integration of the Meteor
– Integration of the pod PDL NG
– New IFF capacities
– Newer version of link 16
– Optimisation of A2G functons
– Light upgrade of Spectra.

They won’t work with Taiwan because 20~25% of their exports go to China, and are biggest foreign investors in China. Korea in particular is running a massive trade surplus against China(Yes, there are non-OPEC countries running a trade surplus against China, the other being Taiwan), so they can’t help Taiwan directly, only indirectly by training Taiwanese cadets on their naval ships and in the army tactics.

Well, as SlowMan said, I can hardly see more country than Russia or India.
What about some Indianized Rafale in 10 years ? :diablo:

Slovakia and F-16 won’t happen. If they ever get new aircraft, it would be leased Gripens which they can operate together with Czechs and Hungarians.

That would make sense for Slovakia, and certainly for SAAB too.
On the other hand, when are those slovak Mig-29 supposed to be phased out ?

Algeria is already considering Rafale or Gripen to replace their MiG-29.. when it happens who knows but the intention is there
http://www.tacticalreport.com/view_news/Algeria:_Defence_Ministry_Rafale_and_Mirage/2861

In the current situation, I cannot imagine the Algerian government interested into french planes, unless if Qatar or UAE push them to accept a deal.

Detail lies in hidden costs

Lol as my friend at work like to tell me : “You mad? :D”

I’m quite disappointed by that article.
– “Dassault has under-estimated the value of the Rafale” isn’t back up by any element. I expected a bit more on that, I must say.
– “ToT is difficult and expensive” isn’t a specificity of the Rafale.
– If India is too demanding with some aspects of the deal, buying a Typhoon or f-18 won’t make a difference.

Then, I recognize the author, the same guy who wrote
http://www.ipcs.org/pdf_file/issue/SR126-NSP-IndiaandtheRafale.pdf