The Air Force has published its annual OPEX activity report for 2017. We learn in particular that the Rafale of Operation Chammal carried out over 1500 war missionse for 8000 flight hours and more than 400 ammunition fired. The 2000 mirages of Operation Barkhane in the Saharan zone, when they performed substantially the same number of missions, for 3000 hours of flight. We also learn that the 5 Reaper drones alone have carried out almost 6000 hours of flight time for less than 400 missions. The Awacs air traffic control, KC135 in-flight refueling, and C130, C160 and A400M transport devices were also in high demand.
The current format of the Air Force is established at 185 fighter aircraft by the White Paper on Defense and Security, and confirmed by the 2017 Strategic Review and the LPM 2019-2025. This number is supposed to allow the deployment of 15 devices in OPEX.
However, if we take the figures from 2017, we see that fighter aviation will have flown almost 10.000 hours of flight in OPEX. If we consider that an aircraft flies on average 300 hours of flight per year when used properly, this therefore represents 34 aircraft entirely dedicated to OPEX over the year.
We therefore understand why the CEMAA, General Lanatta, had requested a minimum format of 225 fighter aircraft, knowing that today, the Air Force has 240 aircraft, of which more than 60 will be withdrawn from service. (mirage 2000 C and N) during the upcoming LPM, and replaced by only 27 Rafales.Given the changes in operational needs and the risks of conflict, whether in Africa, the Middle East, or in Europe, a fighter format of 320 aircraft would be entirely justified (260 Air Force including 30 FAS, 60 Navy including 10 FAS).