lucklucky Posted December 3, 2021 Share Posted December 3, 2021 (edited) Big order to the French https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20211203-uae-signs-deal-for-80-french-rafale-fighter-jets-officials Edited December 3, 2021 by lucklucky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Galbraith Posted December 3, 2021 Share Posted December 3, 2021 Is it very cynical of me to wonder how big the bung was? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daan Posted December 3, 2021 Share Posted December 3, 2021 Dassault has had a successful year selling the Rafale: UAE 80, Egypt 30, Croatia 12, Greece 6 more to arrive at 24 in total, and possibly 36 for Indonesia with the letter of intent already signed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawes Posted December 3, 2021 Share Posted December 3, 2021 (edited) I guess it takes a little of the sting out of losing the Australian submarine contract. Edited December 3, 2021 by Dawes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrustMe Posted December 3, 2021 Share Posted December 3, 2021 That's a lot of hardware. I wonder if the UAE can now afford the proposed F35 buy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucklucky Posted December 3, 2021 Author Share Posted December 3, 2021 India are reportedly happy with theirs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seahawk Posted December 3, 2021 Share Posted December 3, 2021 The used Mirage 2000-9 will be popular. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daan Posted December 3, 2021 Share Posted December 3, 2021 Yeah, I think so too, still relatively modern multirole aircraft. Perhaps India could add these to its fleet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seahawk Posted December 4, 2021 Share Posted December 4, 2021 Even the French could take some of the twin-seaters to replace the old ones in their inventory. Greece could also be interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivanhoe Posted December 4, 2021 Share Posted December 4, 2021 20 hours ago, seahawk said: The used Mirage 2000-9 will be popular. If I were an Internet buzillionaire, I'd buy a half-dozen 2000s and create an airshow team. May not be next-gen technology, but beautiful (especially compared to the Rafale) and experienced. Which brings up the eternal, rhetorical question; Why does the UAE need a top-shelf fighter? They'd be better off with a hordes of basic fighters with vast quantities of AShMs. Though it would be nice to have some sort of Warthog-alike to go after volumes of Boghammers. As for baksheesh, Stuart, you might as well ask if the parties involved were breathing nitrogen and oxygen during the negotiations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawes Posted December 4, 2021 Share Posted December 4, 2021 Doesn't France still operate a number of Mirage 2000D's? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daan Posted December 4, 2021 Share Posted December 4, 2021 Yes, these are still in service. There is even a squadron of 2000Cs still in service. The nuclear attack variant, the Mirage 2000N, has been retired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrustMe Posted December 4, 2021 Share Posted December 4, 2021 As of this time last year France had 66 Mirage 2000D's in three squadrons and a composite squadron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawes Posted December 5, 2021 Share Posted December 5, 2021 Supposedly the Rafales are not a substitute for the F-35. If that's the case, the UAE will have an impressive fleet if all the sales go through. https://www.yahoo.com/news/uae-defence-ministry-says-french-085247754.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted December 5, 2021 Share Posted December 5, 2021 (edited) Like most GCC nations, the hardware buys generally seem based more politics and palm greasing rather than part of an organized effort to increase capability. They tend to be large buys of single types of equipment as opposed to increased munitions, ISR, CCC, training, modernizations, etc. Also this follows the GCC pattern of splitting the air force between US and EU hardware which is also a very intentional political decision. Edited December 5, 2021 by Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daan Posted December 5, 2021 Share Posted December 5, 2021 (edited) Well, the UAE has already signed a contract with Dassault and Thales to modernize the (still modern) Mirage 2000-9 (link). The acquisition of some similar planes from different purveyors is of course a method to acquire political backing as well as diversification should one party pull out. US arms sales also come with all the ITAR strings attached. Edited December 5, 2021 by Daan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrustMe Posted December 5, 2021 Share Posted December 5, 2021 The UAE has also agreed a contract to modernise the F16E/F fleet. I don't remember when though it may of been last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DB Posted December 5, 2021 Share Posted December 5, 2021 See also Qatar for diversity of procurement. F-15E, , Mirage 2000, Typhoon and Rafale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gman Posted December 6, 2021 Share Posted December 6, 2021 A UAE citizen was anonymously saying that this was the price for FIFA world cup and some other sporting events UAE were interested in. Not bad when the population is something like 200,000 people... Serious protection for them indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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