Twelve Rafale in play during the visit of the Egyptian president to Paris

[The SC]

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, who will meet Emmanuel Macron for the first time on a three-day official visit, may be crucial for the sale of twelve additional Rafales on Monday (Credits: Dassault Aviation)

Egypt would like to lift the option, which concerns the purchase of twelve additional Rafale. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sissi will be in Paris from Monday.

More than two years after being offered 24 Rafale, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al Sissi would like to lift the option, which concerns the purchase of twelve additional Rafale. The negotiations, which began since the end of spring 2016 between Dassault Aviation and the Egyptian army, reportedly rocketed, according to our information, on the financing of this sale. Bercy does not wish to grant the same guarantees as two years ago. Which is not a surprise. Yet this is what the Egyptians demand.

The visit from Monday to Paris of Abdel Fattah al Sissi, who will meet for the first time Emmanuel Macron during a three-day official visit, could untie this operation ... or not. The trend was not optimistic in recent days. Emmanuel Macron will he twist his arm to Bercy? To be continued. On the other hand, Paris and Cairo would be very close to concluding a contract worth around € 200 million to supply the Egyptian army with the ground segment of the telecom satellite sold in 2016 and whose sale is estimated at around 600 million euros (Airbus Space Systems and Thales Alenia Space).
Egypt, Rafale's first customer in 2015

In addition to the 12 Rafale, the French industrialists offer in Cairo the armament of the four Gowind corvettes sold in 2014 as well as other warships, including two new Gowinds. For its part, Safran offers the tactical drone Patroller, which was chosen by the French army. Airbus Helicopters pushes the NH90 transport helicopter: 24 copies including 12 TTH (land version) and 12 NFH (marine version). Finally, Airbus would like to sell to Egypt the A400M military transport aircraft in Egypt (10 to 12 aircraft).

Arrived on February 16, 2015 in Cairo, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, had concluded the first sale of Rafale fighter jets for export (24 in total for a little over 3 billion euros out armament), at a signing ceremony with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi. The contract was signed a few days later by the CEO of Dassault Aviation, Eric Trappier, and the head of the military equipment of the Egyptian Air Force. The agreement to sell the 24 Rafale but also a FREMM multi-mission frigate, armed with MBDA missiles to Egypt, had been initialed on Thursday 12 February for more than 5.2 billion euros.

Human rights

This visit will also make it possible "to evoke the subjects of common interests like the regional crises and the fight against terrorism, but also the situation of the human rights to which France is particularly attentive", indicated Thursday the presidency in a statement. "It will also allow us to discuss bilateral issues, including ways to strengthen our relationship in terms of cultural and educational cooperation," she said.


http://www.latribune.fr/entreprises...nue-du-president-egyptien-a-paris-755043.html

 

[WebMaster]

Nice marketing technique for sure.

 

[The SC]

Nice marketing technique for sure.

Yes, of course.. the Financing for the option exercise of 12 Rafales will be linked to some other weapons sales as usual.. that is when you don't have enough cash to finance the deal, or when you play it smart to get the seller commited to the deal by having him finance a part of it..or both..

"In addition to the 12 Rafale, the French industrialists offer in Cairo the armament of the four Gowind corvettes sold in 2014 as well as other warships, including two new Gowinds. For its part, Safran offers the tactical drone Patroller, which was chosen by the French army. Airbus Helicopters pushes the NH90 transport helicopter: 24 copies including 12 TTH (land version) and 12 NFH (marine version). Finally, Airbus would like to sell to Egypt the A400M military transport aircraft in Egypt (10 to 12 aircraft)."

 

[Gomig-21]

Finally, Airbus would like to sell to Egypt the A400M military transport aircraft in Egypt (10 to 12 aircraft).

The NH60 would obviously be an excellent addition, especially the naval version since they'll need those with the FREMMs and Gowinds. But despite the A400M being an impressive cargo and transport aircraft and is sort of in between the C-130 (of which the EAF is already operating 26) and the 24 CASA 295s in service, not sure they really need that at this point. Granted it's in between the Hercules and the C-17 Globemaster as far as size is concerned, I personally think it's not a necessary choice ATM. Unless they're thinking of retiring the aging C-130s, then that might make sense, but on top of those and the 295s?

They should negotiate that aircraft out of this deal and if they really need a larger transport, they should work something out with Russia with perhaps the IL-76/78 which will give them the larger transport option which IMO would be better than the A400 since it would be considerably larger and worth the acquisition, but they could also negotiate a couple of them to be in-flight refuelers. With all the new Rafales, MiG-29M/M2s and others, they would have an excellent A2A refueling capability along with a much larger transport aircraft than something that would be, essentially just a bit bigger than what they already have.

 

[masud]

egypt should for for more FREMM.

 

[Gomig-21]

The French have supposedly blocked the deal for the additional 12 Rafales for Egypt. The reason was a bit complicated but basically it had to do with the "guarantee clauses" that weren't working for either parties. It's still not over, though, since Sisi will still be meeting with Macron and the two might be able to work something out around that problem. There are also political reasons in France that are tied to the budgetary constraints that are affecting the deal. It might still happen but there is a good chance it's out the door for now.

Some other neat aspects about the Rafale:

"The Rafale is the only fighter in the world capable of carrying 1.5 times its own mass", thanks to its capacity of 14 points of carriage, assures Dassault Aviation. And to specify that "two Rafale represent a potential equivalent to six aircraft of the class Mirage 2000". The Rafale was designed to perform all combat aviation missions: air-to-air interception and combat with 30mm gun, IR / EM Mica missiles and Meteor missiles (from 2018); ground support with 30mm gun, GBU-12/24 guided laser bombs, AASM GPS guided bombs (used in Afghanistan, Libya and Mali); Strikes in depth with Scalp-Storm Shadow cruise missiles (used in Libya); sea attack with Exocet AM39 Block 2 missile; real-time tactical and strategic reconnaissance with Areos gondola (used in Afghanistan, Libya and Mali); refueling from one Rafale to another ("buddy-buddy") and finally nuclear deterrence with missile ASMP-A.

http://www.latribune.fr/entreprises...re-raisons-du-succes-du-rafale-en-egypte.html

 

[The SC]

Interview of President Abdel Fattah Sisi with France 24

Florence Barley, French Minister of the Armed Forces (Minister of Defense) welcomes President Sissi in the Headquarters of the French Ministry of Defense in Paris

 

[Gomig-21]

President Macron greeting and meeting president Sisi this morning.

 

[The SC]

President Macron greeting and meeting president Sisi this morning.

Urgent# According to a French newspaper, Egypt is currently negotiating for 24 more Rafale fighter jets worth more than 3 billion euros. According to the sources, the signing of the contract is likely to be announced after the official visit of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to France..

 

[The SC]

French Minister of Economy: The Egyptian government has implemented "courageous" reforms to promote investment and France has chosen to be a strategic partner for Egypt