France left to fund Rafale F5 alone after UAE withdrawal
https://defence24.com/geopolitics/france-left-to-fund-rafale-f5-alone-after-uae-withdrawal
Posted by Ynwe
France left to fund Rafale F5 alone after UAE withdrawal
https://defence24.com/geopolitics/france-left-to-fund-rafale-f5-alone-after-uae-withdrawal
Posted by Ynwe
11 Comments
> France will ultimately have to finance the Rafale F5 programme alone after the United Arab Emirates decided to withdraw from participation. The dispute centred on access to sensitive technologies, particularly in the field of optronics, which Paris refused to share. Initially, Abu Dhabi had been ready to contribute up to €3.5 billion to a programme estimated at around €5 billion.
> Financially, the consequences are significant. The development of the F5 standard alone is estimated at over €5 billion, while the broader Rafale programme reaches approximately €11.7 billion. Without Emirati funding, France will have to absorb the full burden, stretching its defence budget and potentially slowing down implementation.
The European next gen fighter projects are red meat for the EU nationalists here who want to be free of the US F-35 but man, they cannot get a good piece of press written about them.
It’s going to be awkward if these hopeful 6th gens just end up being “5.5” and not true 6th gen again like the current Rafale, Gripen, and Typhoon as 4.5s.
5 billion for f5 rafale development? I mean f3 rafales are currently being sold for upwards of 100 million per unit, so a 5B development for this seems cheap
How India will react?
I will never understand why did our military decided to go for the F-35s, it doesnt make any sense for us. (TL;DR Below)
FYI – Czechia decided to buy US F-35’s which become a national controversy due to their price, etc.
Sweaden offered us an amazing deal with Grippens, but we still said “no”.
I’m not an expert, nor an member of our airfoce nor army, but in past US did/tried to influence it’s allies in to buying their planes, and this is what i believe has happen now, as i’m a person who was always interested in military stuff, and i believe that i know well enough to talk about it openly. (otherwise i wouldnt if i wasnt sure)
It makes no logical sense besides few minor pros to buy F-35’s over Gripens for example, i spend hours trying to figure this out but i just cant, i do believe this was US inflenced buy and what said our commander of airforce really did not convince me otherwise, as in an interview they asked him about this and why are we buying them and his reply was “because they’re simply the best” … That’s not how you buy military stuff (nor justify buying it when asked about it) – also this was not some random interview, but from the Czech military itself called “Kamufláž”.
I swear imma gonna sound pretty stupid right now maybe, but just examples (for us):
F-35
Pros:
– Stealth
– Better air-to-air fighter then Grippen.
– One of the best fighter aircraft currently active
Cons:
– Foregin procuded
– Harder to access repair parts
– Harder to access repair parts due to distance
– Harder to access repair parts due to the number of users/planes in use of this type
– Much harder to mentain then Grippens
– Much more expansive to mentain then Grippens
– Infrastructure will need to be upgraded (airfields, etc.)
– New trainings needed
– Currently the US (producer) is an unreliable ally
– degrades European defence by not sourcing locally
– Sweaden offered a much, much better deal with Grippens then we have now (no need to train mechanics, upgarde airfields, etc.)
– Much more costly to have then Grippens
etc.
And the main part, how on earth Czechia needs a top-tier air-to-air foregin fighter instead of some normal one produced locally? Grippens are most suited for us, and our needs, in war we are no the country which is meant to provide air-sup. but rather air support. In peace time, they’re (used) here to “interecept” not communicating civilian aircraft or military on missions, this is going to be much more expansive with F35s.
And i could go on bcs if we deicded to go with Grippens, a shit ton of money could be spend on upgarding the eq. of our infantry reserves or anything else for example.
TL;DR: **We should focus on CAS (Close Air Support) and air defence when it comes to our country size, military budget, military size, etc. This doesnt make any sense for us as we dont need this.** (And i either assume US forced influence or corruption)
So the Emirates quit development with France just like Germany (and probably Spain aswell) plans on exiting the FCAS-program. Double burden in financial terms for France.
I understand European nations’ interest in not getting involved in Trump’s Iran mess, but the UAE is getting hit daily by Iranian drones and ballistic missiles. Not backing the gulf states at this time (ie France vetoing the UNSC resolution authorizing use of force to protect freedom of navigation in Hormuz) has consequences, these are what they look like and there will be more to come.
It’s not for me to decide if that’s worth it or not.
Quite clickbait-y. Rafale blocks are always funded by France. However since this block will include an engine upgrade and that the UAE had been requesting that for a long time, an opportunity to involve them arose. It simply didn’t work out. But the block would’ve existed with or without the UAE anyway.
Macron legitimately believed GCC countries were against the war in Iran. These people literally have greater access to Trump’s ears than anyone in Europe and the Americas.
“The dispute centred on access to sensitive technologies, particularly in the field of optronics, which Paris refused to share.”
That’s everything you need to know. France follows De Gaulle’s dogma being rooted in strategic sovereignty.
They prioritize autonomy, national control of industry, domestic production and selective exports, so they won’t share optronics information with anyone. That’s the whole point, the cornerstone of 5th gen jet and defence systems are heading in general.
It’s like co-producing a smartphone line and asking for the code source of ChatGTP.
It’s worth remembering that the reason the UAE doesn’t have F-35s is that they were pushing for similar technology transfer and that never ended up happening. The US was paranoid, probably rightly, by the UAE’s warm posture towards China. I don’t think the French should be held to a higher standard than the Americans.