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Egypt says it has bombed Islamic State targets in Libya, hours after the group published video showing the apparent beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians. State TV said the dawn strikes had targeted camps, training sites and weapons storage areas. Earlier, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Egypt had the "right to respond" against IS. A video emerged on Sunday showing a group wearing orange overalls being forced to the ground and decapitated. IS militants claim to have carried out several attacks in Libya, which is in effect without a government. "Egypt reserves the right to respond at the proper time and...

BRUSSELS—French President François Hollande said Thursday Egypt will buy 24 of Dassault Aviation SA ’s Rafale in a contract worth around EUR5 billion ($5.7 billion), the first foreign order for the combat jet. Egypt will buy 24 Rafale and an accompanying frigate, Mr. Hollande said at a news conference after a European summit in Brussels. The French-made Rafale, which exists in land-based and carrier-based versions, has been in service with the French military for more than a decade, but repeatedly lost out to foreign competition and never been sold for export. The jet has seen action in Afghanistan, Libya, Mali,...

(Reuters) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has approved the purchase of 24 Rafale fighters, a Fremm frigate and MBDA missiles from France in a deal worth more than 5 billion euros ($5.64 billion), Le Monde newspaper reported on Tuesday. The arms contract could be officially signed on Wednesday or Thursday, Le Monde reported without saying where it obtained the information. Officials from Egypt's army and the presidency could not immediately be reached for comment. A French government official also declined comment. Dassault Aviation, which builds the Rafale, declined to comment. This would be the first export deal for the...

For the first time since January 31, 2012, when the French Rafale fighter was chosen as the future medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) for the Indian Air Force (IAF), it has been officially admitted that there are serious problems in negotiating the purchase with the French vendor, Dassault. the Indian Business Standard reports. Speaking to the media on Tuesday evening, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said there were “complications” in the negotiations, already on for almost three years, with the French side reluctant to meet commitments that IAF had specified in the tender. Parrikar mentioned that local production of Su-30 MKI...

New Delhi, Oct.18 (ANI): Indirectly expressing his country's surprise over the Indian Government and its defence establishment's decision to go ahead with its reported plan to buy 126 Rafale combat aircraft from France, Russia's Ambassador to India, Alexander M. Kadakin, said the Dassault Aviation-manufactured fighter aircraft could be shot down like a mosquito by a Chinese-manufactured or produced Sukhoi jet should there ever be a conflict in the neighbourhood. Ambassador Kadakin, who was attending an interaction between Russian and Indian journalists in the national capital yesterday, said, "We (Russia) are still very surprised that Rafale is being bought, because if...

Manufacturers of French arms are back in Cairo The Tribune offers a series of new industrial land conquest of French armaments. Egypt, which has offered this year for four corvettes 1 billion euros, shows again interested in the Rafale. Egypt and God will surprise to the French armament industry in 2014 in the absence yet of major contracts signed by more traditional customers in France (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Singapore, Malaysia .. .) For DCNS scored a real coup in Egypt thanks to a very efficient commercial "raid". In less than six months, the naval group sold in Cairo four corvettes...

Situation with the Russia-France Mistral deal can have negative influence on France's plans to deliver Rafale fighter jets to India © EPA/Marcus Brandt PARIS, October 6. /TASS/. The situation with the contract on two Mistral helicopter carriers can have a negative impact on France’s military export if the Mistral supplies to Russia are cancelled, editor-in-chief of the French military magazine Defense et Securite Internationale Joseph Henrotin said on Monday. Information saying the implementation of the contract can be suspended arouses serious concern by those who follows India’s position in the sphere of weaponry on France because the contract on the...

Dependence on Russian imports diminishing Russia is fast losing its dominance in Indian skies as the Indian Air Force is sticking to its guns on inducting 127 Rafale fighter jets from France and turning to the domestic military industry to supplement its requirements. Defence sources told The Hindu that despite an aggressive counter campaign by the British and Americans, the Indian side is firm about wrapping up the Rafale deal. The Rafale has made the grade because it is a safer twin-engine aircraft, which the IAF wants to fly for the next 40 years. Besides it has the teeth to...

Saab believes co-developing Tejas Mark II would end need for Rafale More than two years after India's ministry of defence (MoD) chose to buy 126 Dassault Rafale fighters for the Indian Air Force (IAF), the world's biggest fighter contract swings in the wind. With no deal in sight after 28 months of haggling with Dassault, two of the losing vendors -Eurofighter and Saab - believe they could yet come out tops. Eurofighter GmbH, whose Typhoon fighter narrowly lost out to the Rafale, still retains a senior executive in New Delhi. This is to allow Eurofighter - the official runner-up -...

A U.S. Air Force KC-135 and French Rafale involved in an mid-air emergency over Mali. Taken from a 100th ARW (Air Refueling Wing) KC-135 Stratotanker during what seemed to be (at least until then) a routine aerial refueling mission in support of Operation Serval, in Mali, the above image shows a French Air Force Rafale jet breaking to the left to separate from the tanker after the tip of IFR (In Flight Refueling) probe was severely damaged. According to the Escadron de chasse 01.091 “Gascogne”, who posted the image, the aircraft, with full load of weapons, was refueling from the...

Editor’s note: As part of its ongoing coverage of the CF-18 fighter aircraft replacement, Defence Watch has published a number of articles from authors supporting various aircraft. This week Defence Watch will be running a three-part series that looks at the Rafale filling the role as Canada’s next fighter jet. It is written by Yves Pagot, PhD
ParisTech Institute, and a
reservist in Armée de l’Air. (i.e. reservist with the French Air Force, he is in a parachute unit). Pagot notes that he does not have any connection to Dassault or the firms involved in the Rafale production. By Yves Pagot Defence...

The evaluation team at the CEAM test centre has been developing the concept of operations for Rafale’s new AESA radar. The team leader gives us an update. On 24th October 2012, a new type of Rafale took to the skies from the runway at Mont-de-Marsan (BA 118) Air Base, home of the French Air Force’s CEAM test centre. From the outside, there was virtually nothing to distinguish it from the dozens of Rafales that had already visited the base. However, hidden inside the radome was the promise of an air combat revolution: the RBE2-AESA, the first European active electronically scanned...

A French fighter-jet manufacturer is urging Ottawa to quickly launch a competition to find a replacement for its fleet of CF-18s, stating billions of dollars of work in Canada are at stake. Yves Robins, a vice-president at Dassault Aviation, said the Canadian government’s evaluation of the options to replace the CF-18s is nearing completion, meaning Ottawa could decide this year whether to launch a full and open competition. The alternative for the government would be to continue with its previous choice – stalled by a 2012 report by the Auditor-General – to buy a fleet of F-35 fighter jets directly...

Upgrading military aircraft – fixed wing and rotary – is a common operation performed all over the world. You take an old platform, reinforce the fuselage and wings, install some new systems and it can fly for many more years. But what Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is currently doing with its old Kfir fighter aircraft is an exception. The Kfir (Lion Cub) fighter is a single-seat multitask fighter built by IAI. The aircraft was first built for the Israeli air force (IAF). The first Kfir was delivered to the IAF in 1975, and entered into service in 1976. The fighter...

With national elections looming in India, speculation is growing that contracts for the long-delayed medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA), as well as the multi-role tanker transport (MRTT), could soon be signed. However, the MMRCA pact might cover only the supply of 18 Dassault Rafale aircraft from the French production line, leaving further negotiations for the remaining 108 required to be concluded by the new government. India announced its choice of the Rafale in January 2012. But negotiations subsequently stalled over offsets, the transfer of technology and the role of Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL). Delays in procurement are taking a toll on...

• Huge deal to sell Typhoon fighters to UAE in doubt • Implications for other Gulf arms deals after Iran nuclear talks If there were any remaining doubts that arms sales take precedence over human rights or concerns about exacerbating regional tensions, the British government has been unashamedly quashing them. UK prime minister David Cameron and his defence secretary Philip Hammond have been busy trying to persuade the rulers of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to buy British Typhoon jets, following the example of Saudi Arabia and Oman. The Saudis, the UK's largest arms customer, have bought 72 Typhoons,...

First it was Dassault with the Rafale and then it was Eurofighter with the Typhoon that competed for the favor of the UAE Air Force. In Oman, it was the Saab Gripen against the Typhoon. In Qatar, who knows? Around the world, Europe’s three rival fighters have been locked in virtual combat. For Europe this is not necessarily a good situation, but the result of Switzerland’s evaluation of the three–in which it first favored the Rafale and then selected Saab’s Gripen, could prove pivotal in other competitions. “This is a very bad situation,” said the head of the European Defence...

France had Rafale jets armed with Scalp missiles ready for strike on Syria By Richard Clements According to to French weekly le Nouvel Observateur (LNO) France came within hours of striking Syrian Chemical weapons sites after thinking that the U.S had planned a huge attack on Sept. 1, 2013. The report states that French President Francois Hollande had convened a meeting early in the morning of August 31; the plan on how France was going to attack the chemical weapons sites was formed during this meeting. According to LNO the French planned to fly Rafale jets supported by French tankers...

Russian Missiles for India’s Rafales? Russia’s Tactical Missile Corporation is negotiating with Dassault Aviation for the possible use of its missiles on the Rafale combat jets that have been selected by the Indian Air Force (IAF). The corporation, whose Russian acronym is TRV, told journalists attending last week’s Maks airshow in Moscow that the Indian air force has large stocks of Russian air-launched weapons, which drives its interest in adapting them to the French warplane. Although the Rafale was named as the winner of India’s MMRCA competition in January 2012, a firm contract has still not been signed. Dassault did...

France May Cap Purchases of Rafale Combat Jets -Report 03/22/2013| 01:34pm US/Eastern The French government is considering limiting its purchases of Rafale multi-role combat aircraft, made by Dassault Aviation SA (>> DASSAULT AVIATION), to 225 from the 286 planned over the life of the program, according to a report Friday on financial information website latribune.fr. Such a move would be part of a general effort by the government to scale back public spending in the coming years, the website reported, without citing sources. The report said the government hasn't yet decided on the exact number of aircraft it will purchase....