Rafale Orders and Upgrades

摘要

Herve Morin, the French Defence Minister, approved an investment plan for a contract for 60 Dassault Rafales on November 13. The aircraft are destined for both the air force and navy and take the number of Rafales to be ordered to 180. The delivery dates of the aircraft have yet to be negotiated and are dependent on ongoing efforts to find an export customer for the multi-role aircraft. The Direction Generate de t'Armement (the French procurement agency) will be formally notified of the order by the end of 2009, so that it can let the contract to industry. The latest batch of Rafales will be equipped with an active electronically scanned array in place of the current Thales RBE2 radar, plus new advanced self-protection systems.