جاء الرد سريعا
May 7, 2021
Egypt, France, and Rafale deal
Egypt and France have signed a contract for the procurement of 30 more Rafale fighter jets from
Dassault Aviation in favor of the Egyptian Air Force (EAF) (*).
Reports from Cairo suggest that the Rafale deal went through multiple stages of negotiations,
and that the Egyptian side insisted on the delivery of MBDA’s Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-
air missiles (BVRAAM) with the Rafale fighters (**).
The United States and Israel had objected to the delivery of Meteor missiles to the EAF, to
preserve Israel’s qualitative military edge (QME).
The US side was actually more concerned with Egypt’s intended use for these missiles. In fact,
the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) played an important role in delaying the Rafale
deal, as it was convinced that Egypt will be up to “no good” after receiving such missiles.
Nevertheless, the deal went through, and the 30 Rafale fighters will be delivered with Meteor
missiles.
Egypt received a discount on the 30 Rafales, which was crucial in persuading the Egyptian
government to acquire more of these fighters.
France has also agreed to refurbish, maintain and upgrade the EAF’s Rafale fleet.
The 24 old Rafale fighters willreceive software upgrades as well as further enhancements to ward
off electronic warfare (EW).
Egypt also signed a memorandum of cooperation (MoC) with Dassault Aviation that includes the
establishment of a maintenance and training unit in Egypt, which will be in charge of training EAF
engineers on maintaining and repairing Rafale fighters.
The unit will also help integrate the Rafale fighter command software into the Egyptian air
command. Egypt is planning on integrating various fighter systems in one unified command
software, since the EAF possesses various types of fighter jets with different and incompatible
internal softwares.
Egypt is rumored to be developing its own integration software for its various fighters. This
software will be unveiled during the opening of the Octagon, the new headquarters of Egypt’s
Ministry of Defense.
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