The French Ministry of the Armed Forces has placed an order for 42 additional Rafale combat aircraft, representing an “investment of more than 5 billion euros”, announced Friday the Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu on the social network
This order, planned for a long time and included in the 2023 budget, brings to 234 the number of these devices produced by Dassault Aviation ordered by Paris since the start of the program. Deliveries should take place between 2027 and 2032.
A new decisive step has been taken with the order for 42 Rafales for the@Air Force !
This is excellent news for our sovereignty, our security and for our armies, which will benefit from additional Rafales with modernized operational capabilities. pic.twitter.com/i0FGaFxJcO
— Sébastien Lecornu (@SebLecornu) January 12, 2024
A first “major” order financed by the military programming law
In detail, the contract concerns the order of 30 aircraft for “tranche 5” of equipment for the French army with Rafale, as well as 12 aircraft intended to replace the Rafale of the Air Force sold from occasion in 2021 in Croatia.
“First major order financed by the LPM (military programming law, editor’s note), it illustrates French industrial excellence and contributes to more than 7,000 jobs in more than 400 companies in France,” said Sébastien Lecornu on X. For Eric Trappier, CEO of Dassault Aviation, the Rafale is an instrument of “sovereignty” for France.
“It ensures the superiority of our combat aviation”
“This military industrial sovereignty constitutes an exception in Europe. It ensures the superiority of our combat aviation. It is also an asset of diplomatic influence and economic power with export,” he believes, quoted in a press release.
The Rafale is a so-called multirole combat aircraft, capable of carrying out air defense, reconnaissance or bombing missions. Capable, in its Navy version, of taking off from an aircraft carrier, it is also the vector of French nuclear deterrence.