Assigned to 3/30 Lorraine Fighter Squadron [avec l’immatriculation 30-VA] since 2019, the Rafale C-148 is the last aircraft of this type to have been put into service by the Air & Space Force [AAE]which has not received a single one since… While, at the same time, it had to part with six planes taken from its fleet to transfer them to Greece.
That being said, this “darkness” must take hold soon given that the 2023 Finance Law provides for the resumption of Rafale deliveries to AAE, 13 aircraft being expected. What materialized on December 29, the Dassault Aviation factory in Mérignac having handed over the Rafale B359 to the General Directorate of Armaments [DGA].
“This event marks the resumption of Rafale deliveries to France following a four-year interruption,” said Dassault Aviation in a press release issued on January 10. And to specify that the aircraft delivered is part of the so-called “tranche 4” order, which had been notified nearly… fourteen years ago for 60 copies.
“In accordance with the various Military Programming Laws, deliveries to France were interrupted for budgetary reasons” and “the Rafale chain was then supplied by export orders”, recalled the industrialist.
From now on, 27 Rafale of the tranche 4 remain to be delivered, including 4 Rafale B [B360 à B363] and 21 Rafale C [C149 à C-169]to which are added the 12 others ordered in 2021 in order to compensate for the Greek contract.
Only, if the AAE is to receive 13 Rafales this year, it will, at the same time, have to part with 10 copies, intended for Croatia and Greece, as its chief of staff had indicated. [CEMAAE]General Stéphane Mille, during a parliamentary hearing in October.
“Rafale deliveries to France will resume in December 2022, before a gradual increase in 2024 and 2025. Thirteen aircraft will be delivered to us in 2023, but ten will be withdrawn from us at the same time. Aircraft withdrawals will therefore be offset by deliveries and we should see a gradual increase in the number of Rafales available,” explained the CEMAAE.
Moreover, in the Senate, he said he expected a “low point, very complicated for the Air and Space Force” in 2023, given the reduction in activity of the fighter pilots at 150 flight hours per year, whereas the NATO standard is 180 hours per year.
Normally, a new Rafale order, called tranche 5 and ultimately involving 42 aircraft [12 pour compenser le contrat croate, ndlr]will be notified to Dassault Aviation during the course of this year, with deliveries to be spread out until 2030.
Photo : Rafale B – Archive