It is now official, the Rafale has the preference of the Colombian authorities to replace its armed fighter fleet today with Israeli Kfir fighters. Although it is not, strictly speaking, an order for 16 new aircraft, Colombia is now in exclusive negotiations with Dassault Aviation and the French authorities to give substance to it, after having publicly estimated that the Rafale was "the best option for the country in terms of price, efficiency and operability", while being 30% cheaper to use than the Kfir currently in service. With this likely success, the Rafale would exceed the number of aircraft exported for the Mirage 2000 with…
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Spain formalizes the order for 20 Eurofighter Typhoons to replace its F/A-18s in the Canary Islands
Like all NATO members, Madrid committed in 2014 to increasing its defense spending to a level equivalent to 2% of its GDP by 2025. But like a majority of its members, Spain had taken some liberties with this commitment. Thus, in 2020, the country devoted only $17,5 billion to its defense effort, i.e. 1,4% of its GDP, which was not without posing heavy constraints in terms of financing the modernization of the armed forces. , while they were engaged in many major programs, such as the design of the S-80 submarines and the F-110 frigates. Following…
Read the articleSwiss F-35: Rising prices and falling industrial compensation
Barely 5 months after the selection of the F-35A from Lockheed-Martin to replace the F-5 and F/A 18 of the Swiss Air Force, announcements and disappointments are accumulating for manufacturers, but also for Swiss taxpayers, who will have to put their hands on the wallet much more than initially announced to acquire the 36 American combat planes. Indeed, on the occasion of the publication of the contractual data proposed by the United States in Bern within the framework of this contract, the first slippages are already apparent, and will very probably weigh heavily in the citizens' vote which is taking shape, as well as on the parliamentary inquiry…
Read the articleBoeing's Super Hornet leaves Canadian competition through the back door
For ten years, Lockheed-Martin's F-35 Lighting II has imposed itself in all the competitions in which it has participated. If the conditions of these victories are often subject to discussion, it is nonetheless true that the American apparatus, despite its weaknesses and its many faults, has always managed to convince the officials in charge of choosing, for their respective countries, the aircraft that will be the spearhead of their air force for the next 50 years. Canada will probably be no exception to the rule, since after the withdrawal of Dassault Aviation and its Rafale, then Airbus…
Read the articleWill the F-35 hypothesis reappear in Germany?
The new coalition in power in Germany yesterday published the coalition agreement which constitutes the global contract around which the Social Democrats, the Greens and the Liberals have agreed to govern the country together. The 177-page document covers many economic, social, environmental and international political aspects. Contrary to the general policy discourse presented by each new French government, this coalition agreement constitutes a firm commitment to which the coalition government has agreed and committed itself, and each paragraph, each word has been weighed in it. The defense dimension is naturally dealt with there, as is the European dimension of this…
Read the articleEurofighter Typhoon still has chances against F-35A in Spain
Yesterday Thursday, November 4, the Spanish authorities officially transmitted a request for information (RFI) to the American Foreign Military Sales, the organization supervising arms exports to the allies of the United States, about 25 F-35B , the vertical or short take-off and landing version of Lockheed-Martin's aircraft, to replace its AV-8B Harrier II Matadors which are due to be withdrawn from service in 2028, as well as for 25 F-35A, the implemented version from land, to replace part of its F/A 18 Hornets. The information, which had leaked a day earlier, had already aroused many reactions and concerns, especially from…
Read the articleThe new Finnish fighter plane will be chosen after a wargame
The HX competition aimed at replacing the F/A 18 Hornets of the Finnish Air Force is soon coming to an end, while all the proposals from the 5 manufacturers involved, Boeing with the F/A 18 E/F Super Hornet, Dassault with the Rafale, Eurofighter with the Typhoon, Lockheed-Martin with the F35 and Saab with the Gripen E/F, were handed over to the country's authorities this week. The choice of aircraft for this almost €10 billion contract will be made on price considerations, of course, but also on security of supply and industrial cooperation. Above all, Helsinki intends to integrate the results of the tactical evaluations of the 5 devices…
Read the articleWhy is the US Air Force pulling away from the F-35 now?
As we saw in our article "The US Air Force could develop a new fighter to replace its F16" of February 18, the US Air Force is distancing itself from the F35 program. In question, prices that are too high and which will not be called upon to drop according to the analyzes of the Air Force services, sometimes disappointing aeronautical and operational performance, too chaotic maintenance and availability, and questionable reliability, given the almost 800 problems that the device still suffers from. According to the discourse of American officials, it is now essential, to deal with the rise of Chinese power, to replace the fleet...
Read the articlePentagon has 6 months to produce UFO report for US Senate
The US Congress has included several obligations in the law to support the US economy in the face of the consequences of the Covid-19 crisis, which provides for an envelope of $2.300 trillion reinjected into the US economy. One of these obligations is likely to cause a stir, since it involves requiring the Pentagon and the federal intelligence agencies to produce a synthetic and exhaustive report concerning the observations of unidentified aerial phenomena, ranging from mechanisms for collecting and analyzing data with mechanisms for sharing information between agencies/armies, as well as prospective analyzes on the threats that these unidentified phenomena may represent, especially if it is a question of…
Read the articleIndonesia wants to build an air force of 170 fighters in the coming years
In recent months, Indonesia's acquisition and communication strategy for defense programs has been perceived as chaotic to say the least. Indeed, the country, which today has a strong fleet of around fifteen Russian Su-27 and Su-30 fighters, around thirty American F-16s and around forty FA- 50 South Koreans and British Hawks, has engaged in all-out negotiations to modernize the latter: here 11 Su-35s with Moscow, there 15 second-hand Eurofighter Typhoons with Austria, F16s or F35s with the United States, and recently 36 or 48 Rafale with France. These announcements were...
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