Air-Force French Rafale Perils

[Test7]

As Greece bought twelve second-hand and six new Rafales, the Armée de l'Air & de l'Espace (AdlAdlE, French Air and Space Force) is now forced to order a dozen aircraft with Dassault again, before years end. The dozen aircraft are currently part of the AdlAdlE operational inventory and will be sold as agreed as second-hand to Greece. So new aircraft are needed to keep the AdlAdlE strength on the planned number of 102.

The French ministry of Defence said: “We intend, by late 2020, to place an order, along with the six for Greece, for twelve Rafales for the AdlAdlE”. The minister continued: “Together we agreed that by 2025, according to the Military Program Law, we would have 129 Rafale aircraft and I fully intend to respect that."

When Greece announced that it would buy eighteen Rafales from France, including those twelve used ones, the French government said that each Rafale removed from AdlAdlE inventory would be replaced so as not to impact operations.

The purchase of these new Rafales for the AdladlE cannot be paid for with the funds Greece will pay for their eighteen aircraft. The Hellenic order is valued “between 1 billion and 2 billion euros”. These funds would technically go directly to the state budget and not to that of the Ministry of Defence. This means that a new battle is underway with the Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Recovery over the transfer of funds to defense coffers to pay for replacements.

FR24 reports that in addition to this order for twelve, Dassault Aviation still has 28 aircraft to deliver to France between 2022 and 2024. The twelve new ones would be delivered “immediately after that”, according to the French MoD. And by 2023, the Ministry of the Armed Forces plans to order thirty more to be delivered from 2027.

French Rafale perils

French Rafale perils As Greece bought twelve second-hand and six new Rafales, the Armée de l'Air & de l'Espace (French Air and Space Force) is now forced to order a dozen aircr...

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