Negotiations initiated several years ago with certain air forces for the sale of European combat aircraft Rafale, Typhoon and Gripen, look set to rush in the coming months. Recently, the Thailand and Philippines have made known their interest in the Swedish Gripen, Turkey for Typhoon, And the Serbia and Peru, for the Rafale French.
This is also the case now for Colombia, with Bogotá having to, in the coming weeks, decide in favor of a replacement for its Kfir C10 fighter planes, in a competition between the Rafale and Typhoon, both Europeans. Indeed, after a political disagreement with Israel, the Colombian authorities announced the end of the maintenance contract for its combat planes, until now carried out by the industrialist Israel Aerospace Industry, or IAI.
In this section:
False start for the Rafale and the Colombian Air Force in 2022
In this country, Dassault Aviation was very close to establishing itself, from December 2022. At that time, Colombian Defense Minister Ivan Velazquez, declared in an interview on the radio channel W. that negotiations for the acquisition of a first tranche of three or four French fighters had been concluded with the French aircraft manufacturer, for $678 million.
It appeared, a few days later, that the French aircraft manufacturer had been taken aback by the Colombian announcements, being unable to commit to an order for such a small number of aircraft, what's more, to meet the schedule. very demanding demanded by Bogotá. The budgetary authorization of the Colombian Parliament ends on December 31, the order was postponed.
In doing so, the Colombian authorities undertook a new consultation, more or less requested, an opportunity that other Western aircraft manufacturers did not fail to exploit. In any case, today, only two offers have caught the Colombian attention, that of the Rafale French, and an offer concerning the Typhoon European, carried by Spain.
The Israeli-Colombian quarrel today affects the maintenance of Colombian Kfir C10s
Until now, the Colombian sky was protected by a fleet of a dozen Israeli-made Kfir C10 fighters, of which only eight remained in service in March 2024. There was therefore an urgency for Bogotá to designate the winner of this new competition involving 18 modern combat aircraft.
The pressure had, in fact, increased, in October 2023, after the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, and the Israeli ambassador, Gali Dagan, insulted each other through the media, after the first refused to qualify terrorist, the October 7 attack launched by Hamas on Israel.
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What are the reasons why Dassault did not compete in Thailand and the Philippines?
Thank you
There was no budget in the Philippines. Saab had to offer Gripen C/D and not E/F because of this.
In Thailand, it was either the Gripen, or an American plane, or a Chinese plane. It would have been a waste of time, given the geopolitical reality.