France buys 42 Rafale jets for more than $5.5 billion

PARIS — France has ordered 42 Rafale fighter jets from Dassault Aviation in a deal worth more than €5 billion (U.S. $5.5 billion), the Armed Forces Ministry announced Friday.

The purchase comes as French lawmakers express concerns about the Franco-German project to develop a successor to the Rafale. The Future Combat Air System , as it’s known, isn’t expected to enter service before 2045 or 2050, according to the French Senate’s defense committee.

The French defense procurement agency notified Dassault Aviation as well as equipment suppliers Thales, Safran and MBDA of the contract for the fifth production phase of the aircraft, the ministry said.

“This is excellent news for our sovereignty and security, and for our armed forces, which will benefit from additional Rafales with modernized operational capabilities,” Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu said in a statement.

The Rafale entered service with the French Navy in 2004 and the French Air Force in 2006, and has seen action in Afghanistan, Libya, Mali, Iraq and Syria. The latest contract brings the total number of Rafales ordered by France to 234, including a special order in 2021 for 12 fighters to replace aircraft transferred to Greece.

Export orders for the Rafale currently stand at 261 new aircraft; customers including Egypt , India , the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia. In addition, Greece and Croatia have each bought 12 secondhand Rafales from the French Air Force.

The new aircraft, meant for the Air and Space Force , will be one-seater versions and fitted to the F4 production standard , for which development started in 2018. The standard is focused on connectivity and includes MBDA’s Mica medium-range air-to-air missile as well as an upgrade of the Spectra self-defense system developed by Thales. Safran supplies the fighter’s M88 afterburning turbofan engine.

The jets are to received upgrades to the F5 standard in the 2030s, according to the ministry. The Senate has called for Dassault Aviation to start work on the upgrade — which might include a loyal wingman UAV based on the European nEUROn combat drone program — as early as 2024 due to the uncertainty around the Future Combat Air System. The FCAS could cost two to three times as much as a Rafale, while exports would be subject to approval by the German partner, senators said in a November report .

Until FCAS becomes operational, France will need a top-notch fighter to ensure the airborne component of its nuclear deterrent, the defense committee said.

The Rafale is considered a 4.5-generation fighter , similar to the Eurofighter Typhoon and Saab’s Gripen, and includes stealth technology, the ability to reach supersonic speed without the use of afterburners, engage in combat beyond visual range.

Dassault Aviation said existing Rafale orders , including the new contract, means the jet’s production line will be active for the next 10 years.

The company received orders for 60 Rafales in 2023, including the 42 for France and 18 for Indonesia, compared with 92 export orders in 2022, according to financials released separately on Friday. Deliveries last year amounted to 13 aircraft, missing the goal of 15 — ultimately one less fighter than it delivered in 2022. The company’s backlog for the Rafale increased to 211 at the end of December, including 141 for export; its backlog at the end of 2022 was 164.

The latest deal is the first major expenditure under France’s 2024-2030 military budget law, and will support more than 7,000 jobs across more than 400 companies, the ministry said.

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

巴黎——法国武装部队部周五宣布，法国已向达索航空公司订购了 42 架阵风战斗机，交易金额超过 50 亿欧元（55 亿美元）。

此次采购正值法国议员对法德联合研发“阵风”战斗机后继机型的项目表示担忧之际。据法国参议院国防委员会称，这款名为“未来作战空中系统”（Future Combat Air System）的战机预计最早也要到2045年或2050年才能投入使用。

法国国防部表示，法国国防采购局已将第五阶段飞机生产合同通知了达索航空公司以及设备供应商泰雷兹、赛峰和MBDA。

“这对我们的主权和安全，以及我们的武装部队来说都是极好的消息，他们将受益于更多具备现代化作战能力的阵风战斗机，”武装部队部长塞巴斯蒂安·勒科尔努在一份声明中表示。

“阵风”战斗机于2004年加入法国海军服役，2006年加入法国空军服役，并参与了阿富汗、利比亚、马里、伊拉克和叙利亚的作战行动。最新合同使法国订购的“阵风”战斗机总数达到234架，其中包括2021年特别订购的12架战斗机，用于替换移交给希腊的飞机。

目前，阵风战斗机的出口订单为261架新飞机，客户包括埃及、印度、阿联酋和印度尼西亚。此外，希腊和克罗地亚分别从法国空军购买了12架二手阵风战斗机。

这款专为空军和太空部队设计的新型战机将采用单座设计，并按照F4生产标准进行装配，该标准的研发工作始于2018年。F4标准侧重于互联互通，配备了MBDA公司的“米卡”（Mica）中程空空导弹以及泰雷兹公司开发的“光谱”（Spectra）自卫系统的升级版。赛峰集团为该战斗机提供M88加力涡扇发动机。

据国防部称，这些战机将在2030年代升级至F5标准。由于未来作战空中系统（FCAS）项目存在不确定性，参议院已呼吁达索航空公司最早于2024年启动升级工作——升级内容可能包括基于欧洲nEUROn作战无人机项目的忠诚僚机无人机。参议员们在11月份的一份报告中指出，FCAS的造价可能是阵风战机的两到三倍，而且出口还需获得德国合作伙伴的批准。

法国国防委员会表示，在FCAS投入使用之前，法国需要一架顶尖的战斗机来确保其核威慑力量的空中组成部分。

阵风战斗机被认为是 4.5 代战斗机，与欧洲台风战斗机和萨博鹰狮战斗机类似，它采用了隐形技术，能够在不使用加力燃烧室的情况下达到超音速，并在视距外进行战斗。

达索航空公司表示，现有的阵风战斗机订单，包括这份新合同，意味着该型战机的生产线将在未来 10 年内保持活跃。

根据周五单独发布的财务报告，该公司2023年共收到60架“阵风”战斗机的订单，其中包括法国的42架和印度尼西亚的18架，而2022年的出口订单为92架。去年交付量为13架，未能达到15架的目标——最终比2022年的交付量少了一架。截至去年12月底，该公司“阵风”战斗机的积压订单增至211架，其中包括141架出口订单；而2022年底的积压订单为164架。

该部表示，最新达成的协议是法国 2024-2030 年军事预算法案下的首笔重大支出，将为 400 多家公司提供 7000 多个就业岗位。

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。