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Rafale fighter jets in Serbia: Details of a geostrategic contract
Although the Élysée press service remained very discreet about Emmanuelle Macron's visit to Belgrade on Thursday, August 29, the purpose of this official trip was in no way to discuss the Ukrainian conflict but rather to finalize the sale of 12 Rafale to the Serbian air force.
New Rafales to the F 4.1 standard
It was at the beginning of May that the Serbian government, fearing that its fleet of multi-role Mig-29s (11 in the SM version and 3 in the two-seater UB version) would be grounded due to a new series of sanctions against Moscow, validated the technical proposal submitted by Dassault, Thales and Safran, who supported it at the end of June, and in record time with a financial proposal. Seduced by the multi-role capabilities of the Rafale and especially its ability to maintain the sovereignty of the Serbian state, Belgrade, like many other Rafale customers, did not wish to initiate a call for tenders, but rather a "G to G" (Government to Government) agreement to place itself on an equal footing with neighboring Croatia.
But unlike previous export sales of the Rafale, these are not second-hand first-generation aircraft but new aircraft. Belgrade should thus acquire 12 Rafale to the F4 step 1 standard for an amount of 3 billion euros. That is a cost of 250 Meurs per aircraft. A sum that cannot be compared to previous contracts for the French combat aircraft due to several specificities.
Elbit Solutions
First of all, the aircraft will be delivered without weapons because Belgrade wants to keep the Russian missiles acquired for the Mig-29s of the 101st squadron of Batajnica, namely the R-27ER1 with a range of 100 km, the R-77E (80 km), the Kh-29T (30 km) and a whole collection of KAB-500 and 1500 bombs. However, to be able to fire them from the Rafale, Dassault turned to the Israeli Elbit whose networks have worked wonders in India. Because to allow the former Eastern bloc countries to make their air forces compatible with those of NATO, the Israeli industrialist produced two major innovations with Aerostar, as part of the market for the modernization of 110 Romanian Mig-21s in 1993: First of all, a universal bus allowing the Elbit sensors to be interfaced with any type of aircraft, and a pylon capable of carrying Russian and Western weapons.
This is not the first time that the Republic of Serbia has made an overture to Western arms manufacturers. As part of the contract to modernize its 17 twin-engine subsonic J-22 ORAO fighter-bombers, built from the 1970s with the Romanians, the Serbs have, since 2019, acquired the Safran Sigma 95 inertial system, and Raytheon AGM-65 air-to-ground missiles in addition to the Russian Vympel R-60 MK.
Thanks to the cooperation between Dassault and Elbit, the Serbs will therefore be able to use all of their weapons. In addition, if the Mig-29s are impressive in size, by choosing the Rafale the Serbs double their weapons carrying capacity. The French aircraft is in fact capable of delivering 9.5 T of missiles and bombs compared to 4 T for the Russian fighter. However, such an assembly is to the detriment of Thales, because for the weapons system to be coherent, Elbit also imposes (as in India) its laser designation pod and its DASH helmet sight.
A diplomatic weapon
But above all, through this acquisition, Belgrade becomes the true regional power of the Balkans. Because unlike Croatia or Greece, the Rafale's F4 standard is equipped not with an RBE-2 PESA radar but with a latest-generation RBE-2 AESA whose range, according to Thales, would be just as good as the F-35. But above all, it has SAR imaging capabilities for ground targets at a distance of more than 100 km. These aircraft will also carry the brand new version of the SPECTRA electronic warfare system capable of thwarting all the new waveforms from sensors and new-generation weapons systems, whether Russian, Chinese or American.
However, the CIEEMG commission did not wish to authorize Thales to export the new AI capabilities of the F4 standard which make it possible to reduce the cognitive load of pilots during missions by automatically recognizing targets and proposing response options adapted to each tactical situation.
This file has not been without its difficulties since voices within the DGA or the EMA have expressed their fears in terms of technological leaks. Because the shady links that unite Moscow to the Republic of Serbia in Bosnia could indeed allow the Russians to analyze in detail the stealth characteristics of a standard that equips the nuclear Air Force, the waveforms in combat mode of the RBE-2 or Spectra, but also to study in detail their secondary lobes to be able to neutralize them by means of offensive electronic warfare. But the manufacturers wanted to be totally reassuring about these risks of compromise, but above all according to our information the Élysée would have conditioned this contract on an unequivocal security and intelligence agreement.
In short, through this contract, France is not only making a new commercial coup with the Rafale, it is demonstrating that its defense industry can also be at the service of its diplomacy, if not its influence. The Rafale will not only allow Greece, Croatia and Serbia to federate their maintenance or training chains. Above all, it will contribute to neutralizing any risk of a new conflict in the heart of Europe, while Moscow is currently fanning the flames of divergences between the different political entities of the former Yugoslavia, by definitively rallying Serbia to the Western camp, thanks to the historical ties that have linked it to Belgrade since the 19th century.
https://air-cosmos.com/article/avions-de-combat-ra.....ique-69261
Montirace Ruske rakete na Rafale, bez Francuskog naoruzanja navodno.
3 milijarde cena
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