CHRISTINA MACKENZIE / PARIS
Funding issues mean industry cannot justify development of alternative export version
Singapore will probably be offered a basic Dassault Rafale fighter incorporating the upgrades planned for the French air force and navy because the industrial team developing the multirole aircraft believe it will be too expensive to develop dedicated export versions.
Dassault, engine manufacturer Snecma and avionics and sensors supplier Thales are developing planned updates that will lead to the F3 multirole standard by 2007. The three say future export customers could benefit from these as part of any deal if they buy the Rafale now. In-service Rafales are deployed as air-to-air aircraft.
Singapore will host the next major international fighter competition with a request for proposals (RFP) covering 20 aircraft and 20 options expected later this year.
Denis Ranque, Thales chief executive, says the Dassault industrial team will offer Singapore and others the updates destined for the French air force and navy.
He adds that it is not worth the companies investing billions of euros in developing a version of the aircraft specifically for Singapore. However, Ranque says, if a country does select Rafale it would have an aircraft at the beginning of its 30- to 40-year service life with a series of planned upgrades already defined. Other likely competitors are "at the end of the production line", he says.
Export Rafales are, however, offered with more powerful engines and more powerful radars. Dassault says French government funding for all developments up to the F3 standard are guaranteed.
Regarding Singapore, Dassault says: "Firstly, we don't yet know exactly what they want and secondly we do not know whether the French government would be willing to fund the development of a specific export version."
Singapore is expected to narrow its shortlist to three or four candidates from the current field of the Boeing F-15 Eagle and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 60, Sukhoi Su-35 and Rafale before issuing its RFP.
Source: Flight International
