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PARIS — Dassault Aviation is in talks with subcontractors and suppliers to the Rafale fighter jet to prepare for building three units per month in 2018 or 2019 in case the aircraft maker seals a third or fourth export deal this year, Chairman Eric Trappier said July 23.
“We’re anticipating the possibility of further contracts,” he told a press conference on the first half financial results. A third contract could be with India and there could be a fourth, unspecified, deal, he said.
Dassault is talking to the supply chain to prepare to expand the production line and hire staff, particularly design engineers, he said. The prime contractor builds 11 units a year, or one plane per month, with the Merignac assembly line, near Bordeaux, southwest France, shutting down for August, a traditional holiday month for manufacturers.
Production can also be cut back if the prospective contracts fail to appear, Trappier said.
In February, Egypt signed for 24 Rafales as part of a €5.2 billion (US $5.7 billion) deal, while Qatar ordered the same number in May, worth €6.3 billion. The gulf state has yet to pay the first installment so the contract has yet to enter into effect, Trappier said.
India announced in April an off-the-shelf purchase of 36 Rafales, and Dassault hopes the negotiations will yield an order by the end of the year.
Other prospects for the fourth export deal include the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Belgium and Switzerland. These and other countries fly the Mirage fighter, which put them on the prospective list. Egypt, Qatar and India are operators of the Mirage, Trappier said.
The potential clients were often countries that avoided ordering a US fighter, he said on the sidelines of the press conference.
The Indian deal for 36 Rafales is government to government, and Dassault is supporting the French administration in the negotiations. If New Delhi went ahead with a follow-up order of Rafales, Dassault would be the prime contractor and be free to choose its local partners rather than accept those picked by the Indian authorities, he said.
Dassault is studying a successor to the Atlantique 2 maritime patrol aircraft with the Direction Générale de l’Armament procurement office and the French Navy, he said. The new generation aircraft would be unlike the P-8 and include wider missions such as anti-submarine warfare.
ATL2 is undergoing a modernization, with a delivery in 2018 of the first upgraded unit, he said.
Dassault reported first half net attributable profit of €179 million, up from €138 million a year ago, on sales of €1.69 billion, up 11 percent from €1.5 billion. The net profit margin over sales was 10.7 percent, up from 9.1 percent.
The order book was worth €11 billion, up from €8.2 billion, and reflects 42 Rafales for France and 24 for Egypt. The Qatar deal has not entered the order book as the contract has yet to go into effect with the payment of the first installment. The company holds €2.5 billion in cash, up from €2.4 billion.
Dassault handed over the first three Rafales to Egypt on July 20 at the Istres airbase, while the DCNS multimission frigate sold to the Egyptian Navy sailed out July 22 from Brest, western France, to Alexandria. The Rafales and the frigate, named Tahya Misr, will mark the opening of a new stretch of the Suez Canal in August.
The French Air Force trained the Egyptian pilots to fly the Rafales on a contract drawn between the two services, an unusual agreement as Dassault usually arranges the pilot training. The Egyptian aviators were drawn from pilots of the F-16 and those who fly the Mirage 2000, an Air Force officer said.
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“We’re anticipating the possibility of further contracts,” he told a press conference on the first half financial results. A third contract could be with India and there could be a fourth, unspecified, deal, he said.
Dassault is talking to the supply chain to prepare to expand the production line and hire staff, particularly design engineers, he said. The prime contractor builds 11 units a year, or one plane per month, with the Merignac assembly line, near Bordeaux, southwest France, shutting down for August, a traditional holiday month for manufacturers.
Production can also be cut back if the prospective contracts fail to appear, Trappier said.
In February, Egypt signed for 24 Rafales as part of a €5.2 billion (US $5.7 billion) deal, while Qatar ordered the same number in May, worth €6.3 billion. The gulf state has yet to pay the first installment so the contract has yet to enter into effect, Trappier said.
India announced in April an off-the-shelf purchase of 36 Rafales, and Dassault hopes the negotiations will yield an order by the end of the year.
Other prospects for the fourth export deal include the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Belgium and Switzerland. These and other countries fly the Mirage fighter, which put them on the prospective list. Egypt, Qatar and India are operators of the Mirage, Trappier said.
The potential clients were often countries that avoided ordering a US fighter, he said on the sidelines of the press conference.
The Indian deal for 36 Rafales is government to government, and Dassault is supporting the French administration in the negotiations. If New Delhi went ahead with a follow-up order of Rafales, Dassault would be the prime contractor and be free to choose its local partners rather than accept those picked by the Indian authorities, he said.
Dassault is studying a successor to the Atlantique 2 maritime patrol aircraft with the Direction Générale de l’Armament procurement office and the French Navy, he said. The new generation aircraft would be unlike the P-8 and include wider missions such as anti-submarine warfare.
ATL2 is undergoing a modernization, with a delivery in 2018 of the first upgraded unit, he said.
Dassault reported first half net attributable profit of €179 million, up from €138 million a year ago, on sales of €1.69 billion, up 11 percent from €1.5 billion. The net profit margin over sales was 10.7 percent, up from 9.1 percent.
The order book was worth €11 billion, up from €8.2 billion, and reflects 42 Rafales for France and 24 for Egypt. The Qatar deal has not entered the order book as the contract has yet to go into effect with the payment of the first installment. The company holds €2.5 billion in cash, up from €2.4 billion.
Dassault handed over the first three Rafales to Egypt on July 20 at the Istres airbase, while the DCNS multimission frigate sold to the Egyptian Navy sailed out July 22 from Brest, western France, to Alexandria. The Rafales and the frigate, named Tahya Misr, will mark the opening of a new stretch of the Suez Canal in August.
The French Air Force trained the Egyptian pilots to fly the Rafales on a contract drawn between the two services, an unusual agreement as Dassault usually arranges the pilot training. The Egyptian aviators were drawn from pilots of the F-16 and those who fly the Mirage 2000, an Air Force officer said.
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@Abingdonboy
