Europe
The Times June 28, 2006
£20bn high-flyer that is left waiting in the wings
By Charles Bremner in Paris
No nation wants to buy this French plane.
SHE is gorgeous, high-tech and handles like a dream, but she is, unfortunately, too French. That seems to be world’s reaction to the Dassault Rafale, the long-awaited new combat jet that entered service with the French Air Force yesterday after a decade of delays and no orders from any other nation.
Dominique de Villepin, the Prime Minister, led the festivities at the Saint Dizier airbase in eastern France for the arrival of the ten-jet squadron of the aircraft that was born of France’s determination in the 1980s to go it alone, when Britain and other European states were pooling resources.
Despite the full deployment of President Chirac’s charm and aggressive Gallic arm-twisting in Asia and the Middle East, Dassault has failed to notch up a single order beyond the French Armed Forces, which are due to receive 294 of the jets at £65 million apiece.
Like the revolutionary DS Citroën saloon of the 1950s and the supersonic Concorde of the 1960s [[[which was actually British until we asked the French to join]]], the curvy, twin-engined Rafale was an engineer’s dream, full in ingenuity and elegance. While most other combat jets have one or two main roles, the Rafale (meaning a gust of wind or burst of fire) is designed to do everything: air combat, ground attack, interception, reconnaissance, nuclear delivery and carrier-borne missions.
The computerised, semi-stealth jet replaces all models in the French armoury, including Dassault’s legendary Mirages and naval Super Etendards.
To the anguish of M Chirac and the French defence industry, which has spent €28 billion (£20 billion) on the project, Dassault has been repeatedly pipped at the sales post by US aircraft makers and more recently by the Eurofighter Typhoon, its direct rival, which is now entering service with the RAF and other EU nations [[[France pulled out of the project throwing a hissy fit because it wasn't allowed to control most of the project even though Britain is buying the most Eurofighters of any nation]]]. Three years ago Dassault tried unsuccessfully to take South Korea to court for ordering Boeings, although the Rafale came top in trials and costing.
When M Chirac failed last March to sell Rafales to Saudi Arabia after a big order from Riyadh for the Typhoon, Le Monde wondered whether France was replacing its Mirages with an albatross. “The Cassandras say that France has yet again built a superb, very capable machine that is technologically ahead of many competitors, but which is expensive and very . . . French,” it said.
Dassault says that the real sales effort can only start now that its new aerial hot rod — which can shoot backwards and take verbal orders from the pilot — is in domestic service. The Air Force squadron follows the operation of a handful of naval Rafales on the Charles de Gaulle carrier.
Olivier Dassault, son of Serge, the company’s current chief, said: “We are talking to a lot of air forces about the Rafale, which is recognised as one of the finest combat aircraft.”
Dassault has denied that it is talking to Morocco about the possible sale of 12 to 18 Rafales, which is rumoured to be backed by Saudi Arabia as a consolation prize for its choice of the Eurofighter.
Some are wondering whether the glory days of French military aircraft should be considered over. In the early 1980s France was part of the Eurofighter project with Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain.
It pulled out to launch the Rafale, which risks being made obsolete by the forthcoming American F22 and then the F35 Joint Strike Fighter, which is being funded by the US, Britain and eight other partners — not including France.
thetimesonline.co.uk
The Times June 28, 2006
£20bn high-flyer that is left waiting in the wings
By Charles Bremner in Paris
No nation wants to buy this French plane.
SHE is gorgeous, high-tech and handles like a dream, but she is, unfortunately, too French. That seems to be world’s reaction to the Dassault Rafale, the long-awaited new combat jet that entered service with the French Air Force yesterday after a decade of delays and no orders from any other nation.
Dominique de Villepin, the Prime Minister, led the festivities at the Saint Dizier airbase in eastern France for the arrival of the ten-jet squadron of the aircraft that was born of France’s determination in the 1980s to go it alone, when Britain and other European states were pooling resources.
Despite the full deployment of President Chirac’s charm and aggressive Gallic arm-twisting in Asia and the Middle East, Dassault has failed to notch up a single order beyond the French Armed Forces, which are due to receive 294 of the jets at £65 million apiece.
Like the revolutionary DS Citroën saloon of the 1950s and the supersonic Concorde of the 1960s [[[which was actually British until we asked the French to join]]], the curvy, twin-engined Rafale was an engineer’s dream, full in ingenuity and elegance. While most other combat jets have one or two main roles, the Rafale (meaning a gust of wind or burst of fire) is designed to do everything: air combat, ground attack, interception, reconnaissance, nuclear delivery and carrier-borne missions.
The computerised, semi-stealth jet replaces all models in the French armoury, including Dassault’s legendary Mirages and naval Super Etendards.
To the anguish of M Chirac and the French defence industry, which has spent €28 billion (£20 billion) on the project, Dassault has been repeatedly pipped at the sales post by US aircraft makers and more recently by the Eurofighter Typhoon, its direct rival, which is now entering service with the RAF and other EU nations [[[France pulled out of the project throwing a hissy fit because it wasn't allowed to control most of the project even though Britain is buying the most Eurofighters of any nation]]]. Three years ago Dassault tried unsuccessfully to take South Korea to court for ordering Boeings, although the Rafale came top in trials and costing.
When M Chirac failed last March to sell Rafales to Saudi Arabia after a big order from Riyadh for the Typhoon, Le Monde wondered whether France was replacing its Mirages with an albatross. “The Cassandras say that France has yet again built a superb, very capable machine that is technologically ahead of many competitors, but which is expensive and very . . . French,” it said.
Dassault says that the real sales effort can only start now that its new aerial hot rod — which can shoot backwards and take verbal orders from the pilot — is in domestic service. The Air Force squadron follows the operation of a handful of naval Rafales on the Charles de Gaulle carrier.
Olivier Dassault, son of Serge, the company’s current chief, said: “We are talking to a lot of air forces about the Rafale, which is recognised as one of the finest combat aircraft.”
Dassault has denied that it is talking to Morocco about the possible sale of 12 to 18 Rafales, which is rumoured to be backed by Saudi Arabia as a consolation prize for its choice of the Eurofighter.
Some are wondering whether the glory days of French military aircraft should be considered over. In the early 1980s France was part of the Eurofighter project with Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain.
It pulled out to launch the Rafale, which risks being made obsolete by the forthcoming American F22 and then the F35 Joint Strike Fighter, which is being funded by the US, Britain and eight other partners — not including France.
thetimesonline.co.uk