France in 'final stage' of talks to sell Rafale jets to Qatar

By Cyril Altmeyer and Tim Hepher

PARIS Tue Feb 17, 2015 2:02pm EST

(Reuters) - France is in the "final stage" of negotiations to sell up to 36 Rafale warplanes to Qatar, a senior French source involved in the discussions said on Tuesday.

Manufacturer Dassault Aviation is also in talks aimed at supplying 16 of the multi-role combat jets to Malaysia and has resumed discussions over potential fighter sales to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the source said.

"The discussions (with Qatar) are at the final stage," the source said, asking not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the discussions.

Dassault Aviation declined to comment.

Analysts say the French company was boosted this week by a long-awaited first export deal for the Rafale with Egypt, but is likely to face intense competition for further sales as European, U.S. and Russian rivals step up export campaigns.

It was not immediately clear at what level talks with UAE were taking place, nor which side had initiated them.

The UAE publicly rebuffed an offer to supply 60 Rafale jets in 2011, calling the proposal "uncompetitive and unworkable".

Western defence contractors including Dassault, the four-nation Eurofighter consortium and U.S aerospace group Boeing are chasing overseas sales to prevent their production lines halting due to cuts in domestic defence budgets.

Tensions in the Middle East, instability in eastern Europe and concerns in parts of Asia about regional border threats and the rise of China have further fuelled the arms race, but shifts and sudden reversals in the various industry talks are common.

France said last June it was confident of winning a deal soon to supply fighter jets to Qatar, which is shopping initially for 24 jets plus 12 options to expand its air force.

Competitors include Boeing's F-15 fighter jet, while the U.S. manufacturer is also seeking sales for its declining F-18 model, which is reportedly in consideration in Malaysia.

Elsewhere in the Gulf, the Eurofighter and F-18 are competing for a possible Kuwaiti deal for 28 jets but the Rafale is not a leading contender there, according to French media.

The latest upbeat French comments come ahead of arms fairs in India, UAE and Malaysia within the next month starting with the biennial Aero India exhibition in Bengaluru from Wednesday.

India picked the Rafale three years ago over the Eurofighter Typhoon -- built by Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain -- for a contract to supply 126 planes, but a deal has not been signed.

India's Business Standard newspaper reported this week the contract was "effectively dead" due to disagreements over price.

But the French source indicated that Paris was optimistic that this week's sudden and unexpected deal with Egypt could speed up several other sets of talks, including those in India.

"The contract with Egypt could unblock three or four other ones," the source said.

Bilateral negotiations between Egypt and France took only five months, taking competitors and most industry experts off guard. Three jets a year are expected to be delivered to Egypt in 2015, 2016 and 2017 with the remaining 15 sent by mid-2019.

There was no formal competition, though one defence source said there had been exploratory contacts between Egypt and the Eurofighter consortium but that questions had arisen over the availability of rapid export licences from Britain and Germany.

Eurofighter said it was confident of winning other orders. A spokesman said it had also submitted an offer to Malaysia.

Egypt, which has been drawn into open military action in Libya after the beheading of Egyptian Christians this week, is also said to be interested in military transport aircraft.

It currently operates the Lockheed Martin C-130 and is the largest customer for the Airbus Group C-295, while it has long been a target for the Airbus A400M airlifter.

Source Denies France, Qatar Rafale Report

By Pierre Tran 2:14 p.m. EST February 17, 2015

PARIS — A French Defense Ministry official denied a media report that France is in the final stage of talks for a sale of up to 36 Rafale fighter jets to Qatar.

"Certainly not," the defense official said when asked about a Reuters report that the negotiations with Qatar were in the "final stage." The Reuters report quoted a senior French source.

A second defense official said the idea of final stage could be highly flexible, lasting last days, months or years.

"Qatar has launched a competition," Dassault Aviation chairman Eric Trappier said Monday in an interview with business daily Les Echos. "We are made much progress. It is now up to them to decide".

A Dassault spokesman declined comment.

Qatar is in an unstable region where the countries are looking to buy combat aircraft offering capabilities in air defense, ground attack and reconnaissance to allow a nation to act autonomously in a coalition, Trappier told Les Echos.

Qatar is reported to be considering an order for 24 Rafales and options for a further 12.

Dassault is also in talks with Malaysia and renewed discussions with the United Arab Emirates on the Rafale, Reuters reported.

On Monday, Dassault, DCNS and MBDA signed contracts in Cairo respectively for 24 Rafales, a multimission frigate and missiles for Egypt, in a deal worth €5.2 billion (US $5.9 billion). The sale to Egypt is the first export contract for the Rafale and the frigate.

Just wat to do with the migs
Might as well sell to them back n get more mkm

They  sukhoi not involved in mrca just offer to take back those migs with extra mkm foc

Or sell back to russia and request  for.more missiles and maintanence  package
Nice bunker

The news only says 16 units only.. not really an offer unless got more free/discount stuff

dari bujang, dah kawin, dah ada anak, mrca tak setel lagi

Eeee   arent this supposed to be secret thingy

The news only says 16 units only.. not really an offer unless got more free/discount stuff

We should insist on France to transfer the full technology of Mirage 2000 including the entire production tooling to Malaysia.

the picture from KLS is from AF PR jadi..
no komen

We should insist on France to transfer the full technology of Mirage 2000 including the entire production tooling to Malaysia.

mdf pun ada pics of QRA shed from media day, so I dun think there's a problem

Asean main fighter jet



Credited to Sandy Rud

u forgot "ease to manufacture"...
they would need more than that to take back falkland, the moment the attack, argen wil be designated as a pariah state n sanctions will kill their economy
well, sg is an exception due to perceived hostility of countries surrounding it... i dont think indo or peenoise is heavily militarized even with the new acquisition.. i would say middle east would be the worse region within asia.. 
nah, its all for deterrent... middle east on the other hand...

In paper, the military of middle eastern countries seem frightening and impressive but on other hand they are not. Without foreign assistance they can't wage their own war, can't sustain their large formation of ground forces without their foreign military adviser and even some countries heavily relying their military matter to Foreign mercenaries.

I think only the Turks who made the difference from the rest.

Middle eastern countries have enough military strength to quell their own civilians uprisings, but not enough for international warfare.

International Monitoring Team inspecting the weapons returned by MILF at Camp Siongco, the headquarters of 6th Division in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao

What made Asia Pacific region is more dangerous than Middle East is the facts about Asia Pacific countries is largely has been industrialized and almost all the big power in the region can sustain prolonged war with their machine industry and human power. Middle East nation can't sustain a long and tenuous war situations let alone their economics structure is depend on extractive industries such as oil and gas. India, China, Pakistan, South Korea, Japan all is self sufficient in regard their military industries. Indo Sing Malay Thai Viet and Myanmar is too have some capability to engaging in a prolonged war or battle but surely their capability is not as dangerous as the bigger power have in the region.

As an example, maybe Japan is not as heavily armed as their neighbor like South Korea or China when comparing about their defense spending per the respective countries GDP, but nobody will take on Japan for granted as they have the capability to made their own weapons and raising an offensive army backed with modern armament is just matter of time for Japan.

In paper, the military of middle eastern countries seem frightening and impressive but on other hand they are not. Without foreign assistance they can't wage their own war, can't sustain their large formation of ground forces without their foreign military adviser and even some countries heavily relying their military matter to Foreign mercenaries.

I think only the Turks who made the difference from the rest.

Asean main fighter jet

Fark!!!!!!! US wanna export its freedom here and SG will be it's doormat:

http://www2.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/4784...by-2018-us-navy