Egypt signs Dassault Rafale deal

© Dassault Aviation - F. Robineau Egypt on Monday, February 16, signed the contract with France to acquire 24 Dassault Rafale fighter je...

© Dassault Aviation - F. Robineau

Egypt on Monday, February 16, signed the contract with France to acquire 24 Dassault Rafale fighter jets.

French Defense Minister Mr. Jean-Yves Le Drian and Mr. Eric Trappier, Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation, went to Cairo for the official signing ceremony.

The breakthrough contract worth over USD 5 billion marks the first export order for the omnirole fighter jet. Dassault is also in talks with Qatar and India for a possible deal.

The Indian deal for 126 Rafales is in the verge of collapse as Dassault is reluctant to transfer critical AESA radar, engine technologies and difference over workshare.

Egyptian and French cooperation dates back to the 1970s, and has seen the Mirage 5, the Alpha Jet and the Mirage 2000 flying in Egyptian fleet.

The Rafale is the first completely omnirole fighter capable of accomplishing all the missions assigned to combat aircraft (air-air, air-ground, air-sea). It first came into active service with the French Navy and the French Air Force in 2004-2006, gradually replacing seven types of aircraft belonging to the preceding generations.

It was deployed in Afghanistan (2007-2012), Libya (2011), in the Sahel-Saharan strip (since 2013) and in Iraq (since September 2014) against ISIL.

Major partners of Dassault in the Rafale program is Thales and Snecma. Thales provides the multi-sensor capability such as the RBE2 AESA, the first European combat radar with active electronic scanning antenna, the SPECTRA electronic warfare system, optronics, the communication, navigation, identification suite, avionics, and the power generation systems. Thales provides 25 percent by value of Rafale.

Rafale is powered by two Snecma M88 engines, developing 50 to 75 kN of thrust with afterburner (11,250 to 17,000 lb) each.
Of the 180 Rafale aircraft ordered by France to date, over 140 have been delivered.

Dassault was desperate to achieve some foreign sales to keep the assembly line humming as defense budget cuts in France reduced the total Rafale orders from 300 to 180.