Dassault Rafale

Aviation Week's defense team discusses the latest developments with Europe's combat air projects as governments there ramp up military spending.

The French government and Safran are in talks about upgrading the M88 engine for the Dassault Rafale combat aircraft, in part to sustain industrial know-how.

The program is currently in the assessment and risk reduction phase.

The armed forces will receive deliveries of some €10.6 billion of new equipment, including new aircraft, helicopters and uncrewed aircraft systems.

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.

France is pressing ahead with efforts to field an enhanced standard of its Rafale multi-role fighter and pair it with an uncrewed combat aerial vehicle (UCAV).

IAF sources told local media India Today that the exercise took place at Eastern Air Command “a few months ago.”

The contract was signed on Aug. 29 after more than two years of negotiations.

The contract is potentially worth €3 billion ($3.3 billion) for an unspecified version of the Rafale.

The two fighters were returning from a refueling training mission in Germany when the accident occurred around 12:30 p.m. local time on Aug. 14.

The OEM plans to establish a new MRO facility for Rafale and Mirage 2000 aircraft at Delhi Noida International Airport/Jewar International Airport.

Dassault Aviation said it delivered six Rafale fighters to France in the first half of the year.

The French Air and Space Force is forming a new squadron with the Rafale now that manufacturer Dassault has resumed deliveries of the fighter to France.

After a challenging start, France, Germany and Spain’s Future Combat Air System is progressing toward demonstrator flights.

A wave of new orders and investments in capabilities is giving Eurofighter a “golden moment.”

Boeing executives harbor little hope for extending F/A-18E/F production beyond the last scheduled delivery to the U.S. Navy in 2027.

The title of Bill Sweetman’s self-published report is not subtle: “Trillion Dollar Trainwreck: How the F-35 Hollowed Out the United States Air Force.”

As the first Croatian Rafales arrive, neighboring Serbia lays out plans for its own procurement of the French fighter.

Croatia has become the fifth export operator of Dassault’s Rafale fighter following delivery of the first aircraft into the country’s capital of Zagreb.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has said a contract for a purchase of the French Dassault Rafale could be agreed by the summer.

France’s defense materiel agency has begun flight tests of a new optronics sensors system destined for the next upgrade package for the Dassault Rafale.

Of the 215 used fighters expected to transfer ownership in the coming decade, 132 of them (about 61%) will be F-16s, according to Aviation Week’s Fleet Discovery Military database.

Presenting the firm’s 2023 results to journalists here March 6, Trappier acknowledged some issues with Rafale supply chain delays.

Every dollar of aircraft production underpins at least another dollar of supplier activity in all tiers.

France’s military modernization is ambitious, expansive and well underway, according to data from Aviation Week Network’s Fleet Discovery Military tool.