In one press release, Lockheed Martin says the unit acquisition price of the F35A will drop below $ 80 million by 2023, in line with program targets. Already in 2019, by moving to a production level of 130 aircraft per year, production costs will drop below $ 80m, gradually allowing the commercial price of the aircraft to evolve by 2023.
From then on, the F35A will be offered at a price substantially equal to, or even higher than, the Rafale from Dassault. The French plane already having significant difficulties in winning against its opponent in European and international competitions, is it therefore doomed?
Le Rafale has no shortage of arguments to put forward against his American adversary. It surpasses it in terms of carrying capacity, top speed, cruising speed, range of action and maneuvering capacity. Furthermore, the Rafale is already a very reliable aircraft, it has excellent availability, and its maintenance prices are half those of the F35.
With the new F4 standard which will come into service in 2023, the Rafale will have greatly expanded communications and processing capabilities, as well as modernized systems such as OSF and the SPECTRA protection system.
The fact remains that the F35A will always have a significant advantage in terms of stealth, even if this advantage will decrease over time. It is precisely this functionality which will have been decisive in Belgium, the Belgian air force being required to carry out missions to suppress enemy anti-aircraft defenses.
To be able to counter these critical points, the offer Rafale will have to evolve, and integrate solutions to respond to all modern mission spectrums, such as:
- An “electronic warfare” version of Rafale, comparable to the US Navy's EA-18G Growler, whose role would be to eliminate and/or jam enemy radar and ground-to-air threats.
- The implementation of a static bi/multi functionality of the RBE-2 radar, allowing rafales to have effective solutions to stealth devices
- The strengthening of the device's passive detectors, and the device's ability to merge data from several sensors, or even several devices.
- The design of a UCAV combat drone, assistant to the pilot aircraft to carry detectors and effectors into a disputed area in a stealthy manner, under the control of the crew of the Rafale.
- Finally, taking into account the specificities of the French economy, to develop the export price of the device. Indeed, in France, an additional 1 million Euro invested in the Defense industry generates 1,45 million Euro in budget balance for the State, while creating 27 jobs. The State therefore has the possibility of matching the export sales price of the device, up to 50% of this sales price, while maintaining a very significant budgetary return (95% in this case). The list price of Rafale would then drop below the €40 million mark, making the device very attractive.
There are therefore responses to be made to the reduction in F35A prices, likely to maintain the competitiveness of the French aircraft both from an economic point of view and from an operational point of view. It should be noted, in this respect, that all these measures would also greatly benefit the French air forces of the Air Force and Naval Aeronautics.