São Paulo – By the end of the year, the United Arab Emirates should have completed the purchase of 63 Rafale jet fighters manufactured by the French company Dassault. The negotiations started in 2008, but were suspended on several occasions. Abu Dhabi, the Emirati capital, is willing to pay 6 billion to 8 billion euros to renew the national fleet, presently comprised of Mirage 2000 jets purchased in the 1980 and of Boeing F-16 models.
According to French newspaper La Tribune, the aircraft purchase contract should be signed between September and the end of the year. According to the La Tribune, a source involved in the negotiations has claimed that now, Abu Dhabi wants to purchase the aircraft. This was not a priority on other occasions in which France attempted to sell the model.
The same model France is trying to sell to the Emirates is participating in a tender to renew the jet fighter fleet of the Brazilian Air Force (FAB, in the Portuguese acronym). The FX-2 tender involves the French model, the Swedish Gripen, manufactured by Saab, and the North American F-18, by Boeing. During the government of the former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the former minister of Defence, Nelson Jobim, stated that the Rafale was the favourite model to win the bid for purchase of 36 jets. When she was inaugurated, the current Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff suspended the tender, estimated at 4 billion to 7 billion euros.
The Rafale has a maximum flying speed of Mach 1.8, equivalent to roughly 1,800 kilometres per hour, and reaches a maximum altitude of 55,000 feet (16,700 metres).
Some details are pending before the negotiation with the Emirates is closed. One of the requirements of the Arabs is that the Rafale be equipped with a more powerful engine that the current one. In case the aircraft sale goes through, France should also close a deal for selling arms to equip the Rafales in the United Arab Emirates. The weapons include the Meteor air-to-air missile.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
