After the Middle East, Asia and Europe, the Rafale could soon land on the South American continent. Several South American air forces must, in fact, modernize their fighter fleets more or less quickly, and the Rafale is often cited by the local press as one of the favourites, or even the favourite, for the competition.
Until now, it was colombia which seemed to represent the most important short-term potential for the French aircraft manufacturer. After falling out with Jerusalem, Bogota must, in fact, quickly replace the Kfir C10s currently forming its fighter fleet, while Israeli manufacturers have stopped providing support for Colombian aircraft.
In all likelihood, this case should therefore be resolved quickly, knowing that the Rafale had been initially chosen by the Colombian Air Force, in 2021, including in the face of the Typhoon, which is being opposed to him again today, for a contract covering 18 aircraft.
However, Colombia may not be the only, nor the first South American country, to implement the French fighter. In fact, the Peruvian air force and authorities have started the procedure to replace the Mig-29, Su-25 as well as the 11 Mirage 2000P, and the Rafale would be, according to confidences obtained by the specialized press, the big favorite in this case.
In this section:
Peruvian Air Force to Replace Fighter Fleet
The Peruvian Air Force currently operates a fighter fleet composed of Russian and French aircraft. In 1997, Lima acquired 21 MIG-29s and 18 Su-25 attacks, followed the following year by 3 additional MIG-29s to replace the Su-22s acquired in the 70s, following the military coup by pro-Soviet General Álvaro, and to support the 12 Mirage 2000Ps acquired in 1984 from France.
Of this fleet, only 8 Mig-29s modernized in 2008, 2 Su-25s and 11 Mirage 2000Ps remain today, as well as around twenty American A-37 Dragonfly light attack aircraft, dating from the 60s.
As early as 2013, Lima began to launch consultations to modernize this fleet, the country having several territorial disputes, particularly with Chile. Several models were evaluated, including the Russian Su-35s, the European Eurofighter and the Rafale French.
However, the reality of the costs quickly became apparent for a country whose GDP is capped at $250 billion, and the ambition to acquire 60 Russian fighters and 60 European aircraft, which had been mooted for a while, was quickly abandoned.
Since then, the Peruvian Air Force and the Ministry of Defense have continued their assessments, while at the same time the country's fighter fleet has been inexorably reduced, particularly regarding Russian aircraft.
The 2025 budget project of the Peruvian army includes funding for the purchase of 24 new fighter jets
After 10 years of quiet negotiations, the issue of modernizing the Peruvian fighter fleet has returned to the forefront in recent months. In order to respond to this situation, General Carlos Enrique Chavez Cateriano, Commander-in-Chief of the Peruvian Air Force, announced the launch of an international competition, a few months ago, with a view to modernizing this fleete.
There are 75% of this article left to read, Subscribe to access it!
The Classic subscriptions provide access to
articles in their full version, and without advertising,
from €1,99. Subscriptions Premium also allow access to archives (articles over two years old)
It is a pity that France is reluctant to sell to Taiwan. China's immediate reaction would be an argument for Dassault. Danger! The Rafale is a real plus for the armies in its possession. The F35 does not raise any reactions from China.
Pride obliges me to correct this unfortunate error, but it seems important to me as a Frenchman not to stoop to the position of a servile country like Guatemala or Honduras which recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel for the sole reason that Washington has done so...
The only capital of the Hebrew state that we recognize is Tel Aviv, our embassy is there and we will change our minds whenever we want, never when someone else decides for us, with all due respect to the United States.
What is the policy of the French State and Dassault for donations and second-hand resales?
First the oldest cells?
Priority is given to cells awaiting modernisation: this allows the cost of the standard modernisation to be borne by the customer. This is what happened for Greece and Croatia, the transformation to the F3R having been borne by the customer.
What is the 8% "allocation rate" of Peruvian Mirage 2000s?
Attrition rate maybe?
Number of lost devices / total number of devices => 1/12