UAE and France sign deal for 80 Rafale fighter jets

[Indos]

December 3, 2021 - 09:52
DUBAI (Reuters) - France and the United Arab Emirates confirmed on Friday that they had signed deal on the supply of 80 Rafale warplanes, manufactured by French company Dassault Aviation.

French President Emmanuel Macron has forged a good relationship with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan (MBZ), with investments flowing between both countries. Paris has a permanent military base in the Emirati capital.

(Reporting by John Irish; Writing by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)

UAE and France sign deal for 80 Rafale fighter jets

DUBAI (Reuters) - France and the United Arab Emirates confirmed on Friday that they had signed deal on the supply of 80 Rafale warplanes, manufactured by French company Dassault Aviation. French President Emmanuel Macron has forged a good relationship with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed...

www.swissinfo.ch

 

[Indos]

The United Arab Emirates have signed an agreement to acquire 80 Rafale fighter jets, built by the Dassault Aviation group, on the occasion of President Emmanuel Macron's visit to Dubai. The Emirates also signed an agreement for the purchase of 12 Caracal helicopters #AFP

https://twitter.com/x/status/1466693699425882114

Caracal helicopter made by Airbus and this deal benefit Indonesia Aerospace as well

 

[Indos]

UAE Air Force is already quite decent, I dont know why they want to spend huge money to buy 80 Rafales. Better spending the money for something more productive. They should start ordering new fighter in 2032 instead of now, to replace their Mirage 2000 with 5 generation fighters.

United Arab Emirates Air Force - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[INS_Vikrant]

Right time for India to place follow on orders as this deal along will further reduce the price of those jets

 

[Signalian]

I dont know why they want to spend huge money to buy 80 Rafales

Iran

 

[RIP Pak LAW]

So no progress on US F35s ? Probably a move to piss off Americans by shaking hands with disgruntled Frenchs after Australian submarine snub.

 

[Blacklight]

Iran

No, Saudis. They dont want to be bullied by MBS.

They have already made peace / normalized relations with Iran & Turkey.

 

[Vergennes]

Good news. With the UAE order it means 242 Rafale were sold to various countries since 2015. Not counting other potential orders or follow up orders. (Notably from India).

 

[Indos]

So no progress on US F35s ? Probably a move to piss off Americans by shaking hands with disgruntled Frenchs after Australian submarine snub.

Yup, look like this order is to replace previous F 35 order

 

[Foinikas]

Not just Iran,also Qatar which has been arming like crazy after the embargo.

 

[Indos]

 

[Philip the Arab]

Good news. With the UAE order it means 242 Rafale were sold to various countries since 2015. Not counting other potential orders or follow up orders. (Notably from India).

Does France allow integration of weapons of non-French origin on the Rafale?

 

[Blacklight]

The United Arab Emirates have signed an agreement to acquire 80 Rafale fighter jets, built by the Dassault Aviation group, on the occasion of President Emmanuel Macron's visit to Dubai. The Emirates also signed an agreement for the purchase of 12 Caracal helicopters #AFP

https://twitter.com/x/status/1466693699425882114

Caracal helicopter made by Airbus and this deal benefit Indonesia Aerospace as well

With a growing domestic Mil Industrial Complex, it remains to be seen, how much work will be done domestically, and how much by sub system suppliers outside France.

@The SC @Philip the Arab ?

 

[Hammad ur Rehman]

UAE wants to hedge it's bet in USA & Europe. They are probably buying Rafales now to replace early model Mirage 2000s & F-16s which will be approaching nearly 30 years of service by the Rafales gains FOC in the service.

Later on Rafales can replace all Mirage 2000s while F-35s (which will sure be coming) will replace remaining F-16s.

Eventually both purchases will keep their fighter jets count to 130 nos. with long legs but 4.5 & 5 gen instead of only 4 gen currently (80 F-16s + 66 Mirage 2000s = some 140 with attrition).

 

[Philip the Arab]

With a growing domestic Mil Industrial Complex, it remains to be seen, how much work will be done domestically, and how much by sub system suppliers outside France.

@The SC @Philip the Arab ?

Good question, I think that UAEAF would have to be a dumbass to not get integration of the weapons they asked the companies to produce for them and funded.

Supposedly they are also developing an air to air missile by 2025.