Colombia announces contract failure Rafale.. and the order for CAESAR cannons for $101 million

Update: Again Repeat. Just hours after announcing the CAESAR order from Nexter, Colombian authorities reversed course, confirming the order for 18 ATMOS systems from Israeli Elbit instead. According to Bogota, Nexter had refused to give up the 12% increase in its prices compared to the initial quotation, while Elbit agreed to give up this increase. As the Rafale, the CAESAR came out on top in the evaluations carried out by the Colombian armies.

Obviously, the announcement made by the Colombian president two weeks ago regarding an upcoming order of 16 planes Rafale by Bogota was somewhat premature. Indeed, in an interview given to national radio W, the Colombian Minister of Defense, Ivan Velasquez, announced that the negotiations with Dassault Aviation, which initially focused on the acquisition of 3 to 4 aircraft and associated services for 678 m$, and which absolutely had to take place before the end of 2022, had failed. According to filtered information on this subject, the French aircraft manufacturer refused to commit to such a small order, and wanted the overall order, i.e. 16 aircraft for $3 billion, to be negotiated in one go. The Colombian minister added that Saab would also have rejected this offer, while the Swedish JAS 39 Gripen aircraft had also met the requirements of the Colombian air force.

We understand better, in this context, the discretion of Dassault, but also of the French authorities, after the announcement of the Colombian president of December 21. Indeed, the budget envelope around which the negotiation took place, had been voted by the previous term of office, and its extension to reach the 16 devices and the $3 billion required, had not been endorsed by Parliament. , while the new president Gustavo Petro had announced shortly after his election, that the replacement of the Kfir of the Colombian Air Force was not his priority. In fact, between a specific space for negotiation, excessively short deadlines, and a very small order volume with no capacity for commitment, it naturally became very difficult for French negotiators and their Colombian counterparts to find common ground.

However, the Rafale, and the French defense industry, remain in the race in Colombia. This is evidenced by the announcement made by the Ministry of Defense concerning the acquisition of CAESAR 6×6 guns from Nexter, for an amount of $101 million. The number of systems ordered by the Colombian Army, as well as associated services and equipment, such as ammunition, have not yet been disclosed. The French Caesar had been evaluated by the Colombian army in a competition which opposed it to the ATMOS gun of the Israeli Elbit, and the Yavus of the Turkish, two other systems inspired by the CAESAR associating an artillery gun and a truck. The type of CAESAR ordered is also not specified, whether it is the classic CAESAR currently in service, or, what is more likely, the CAESAR NG being designed whose production will begin in 2026, and already commanded by France, Belgium and Lithuania.

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