Wise decision ,no surprise as expected..The Rafale is a mature fighter, cheaper to acquire and to operate vis-a-vis Typhoon.
Commonality with Mirage 2000, suitable for naval operations and full ToT without any restriction.
What more do you want ?? Typhoon had no chance from the beginning.
France is behind the project Rafale which means its future is secured and what about the Eurofighter? Italy and Spain is bankrupt, Germany and Britain don’t seem to be committed ! Anybody would buy the Rafale under these circumstances.

There is no doubt that Gripen’s price has also some flexibilty. Anyway, its not a good move on the part of Dassault.

i think they consider themselves Wallonian first?

The rancor and hatred felt between Wallonian and Dutch speaking people in Belgium is approximately 10 times higher than in Canada between Anglo Canadians and Quebec ,In Zürich you can speak French with anyone, the French language is present everywhere, in Belgium on the other hand if you take the train from Brussels and go to north ,the French language vanishes all together, in cities like Gent or Brügge French is tantamount with family insult and nudity !

For an order of 15-20 aircraft, setting up even an assembly line in the UK (let alone production infrastructure) would be prohibitively expensive.

Absolutely.. My idea was based on RN abandoning the F-35C project and buying the Rafale Marine instead as a final solution . Such a move would justify setting up an assembly line in the UK..

The fact is the first F 35 delivered are probably be limited, so if the solution of an interim aircraft is serious the UK is going to go for F 18. All the talk about Rafale is simply political noise. The likely solution for the RN will be to lease some USN aircraft for a 5 to 10 years period or so and then give them back when the F 35 comes to full standard or retired them if they are already used.

Remote possibility since France is getting 11 aircraft a year and they don’t need that much, they might lease some of their aircraft since I don’t think France is getting a second carrier any time soon and they are left with a marine squadron they don’t quite need right now. But given the logistical differences, I don’t see how that senario is possible.

The UK would never buy a complete aircraft manufactured by Dassault in France. A licence production in the UK would be the only solution..

http://www.defencemanagement.com/news_story.asp?id=18662

Well unlikely to happen but the rafale has the advantage of being compatible with the meteor and storm shadow.

Unlikely ? Its impossible. Especially after Cameron-Sarko clash few months ago . On the other hand, the Rafale Marine’s would look very nice on decks of QE class carriers !

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/article-view/release/132211/eu-falls-further-behind-us-in-defense-spending.html

Despite dramatic cuts on both sides of the Atlantic,it’s pretty obvious that the US will have the lead for a long time to come.