The French Air and Space Force is to receive 12 new-build Dassault Rafale F3R multi-role fighters, to replace an equivalent number of aircraft being sold to Greece as part of an 18-aircraft deal.
‘The Directorate General for Armaments (DGA) will be launching the first orders from Dassault Aviation, Safran and Thales in February,’ the French MoD announced on 29 January.
Delivery of the 12 new Rafales to the Air and Space Force is expected in 2025. It will conclude a plan (under the 2019-2025 Military Programming Law) to order 28 new multi-role fighters, to be produced from December 2022.
‘This additional order will also ensure the maintenance of the Rafale production chain until December 2025 and the sustainability of its industrial ecosystem, weakened by the [COVID-19] crisis in the civil aeronautics sector,’ the MoD added
Although the MoD did not disclose the value of the latest deal, Shephard Defence Insight describes a unit price of $80 million for the aircraft ordered under the 2019-2025 plan, giving an overall cost of $960 million.
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