Page 6 - ADT MARCH 2021 Online Magazine
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which has ordered a total of 192 Rafales. Egypt
has signed up for 54 aircraft, while Qatar and
India have placed orders for 36 aircraft each.
Greece and Croatia have ordered 18 and 12
aircraft respectively, with the former being
the first European country to buy the Rafale
(apart from France). The UAE and Indonesia [ COVER STORY ]
have ordered 80 and 42 aircraft respectively.
In addition to the UAE, Qatar is another Middle
Eastern customer for Rafale and ordered the
multi-role fighter type in two tranches in May
2015 (24 aircraft) and December 2017 (12 air-
craft) respectively. Dassault is also modernizing
Qatar’s fleet of Mirage 2000-9 aircraft and work
began three years ago. Egypt has also finalised
its acquisition of 30 additional Rafales to add
the Rafale F4, late last year, when it placed an order for 80 aircraft to its initial purchase of 24 Rafales, signed in
to be operated by the UAE Air Force & Air Defence (UAE AF & AD). 2015. The Egyptian Air Force will become the
The Rafales and their equipment were ordered via commercial third largest Rafale operator after the French
contracts between the UAE and GIE Rafale (Dassault Aviation, and Qatari air forces. Egypt is also the first
Safran and Thales) and MBDA. export customer for Rafale, just as it was for
the Mirage 2000.
The UAE contract for 80 aircraft is the largest ever deal for the
French combat aeronautics industry which has an ecosystem of
400 companies dependent on the Rafale. The continued flow of Croatia’s contract for 12 Rafale fighters and
orders for Rafale represents thousands of guaranteed jobs for associated logistics support was finalised in
the programme till the end of the decade. The UAE also ordered November 2021. The Croatian Air Force will
twelve H225M Caracal helicopters from Airbus Helicopters, which receive 12 ex-French air force Rafales, with
will be will be entirely produced and assembled in France, at Airbus Dassault providing training and logistics sup-
Helicopters’ industrial site in Marignane. The UAE’s order for 12 port including additional spare parts for these
H225Ms adds to a French order for eight helicopters placed in aircraft, over a three-year period. Croatia will
April 2020 and will consolidate the H225M Caracal production and be a first-time user of a Dassault manufac-
assembly line of the Marignane site and all its suppliers, helping tured aircraft unlike other Rafale customers,
sustain hundreds of jobs. who have earlier operated Dassault types such
as the Mirage III/IV, F1, 2000 and Alpha Jet.
Greece is the only other European customer
Export Contender for the Rafale ordering 18 of the type, split into
Dassault Aviation has now found export customers for the Rafale in six new aircraft and 12 ex-French Air Force
Egypt, India, Qatar, Greece, UAE, Indonesia and Croatia. The UAE’s examples. The Hellenic Air Force (HAF) order
80 aircraft order makes it the largest Rafale customer after France, will be completed by 2023 and deliveries are
already underway with the first six aircraft fer-
ried to Greece in January, only one year after
the signature of the contract for 18 aircraft. The
aircraft are now in operational service with the
Hellenic Air Force’s 332 Squadron.
The HAF will now receive its next Rafales only
towards the end of 2022 and Dassault Aviation
has stated that all 18 aircraft will be deployed
at Tanagra Air Base by the summer of 2023.
Dassault will build 12 new aircraft for the French
Air and Space Force to replace the 12 to will
be supplied to Greece. This will result in the
French Air and Space Force being equipped
with 129 Rafales by the end of 2025. The new
aircraft will be delivered between 2027-2030.
Dassault’s export backlog for the Rafale now
stands at approximately 180 aircraft.
6 | March 2022 WWW .GBP .COM.SG/ ADT