PARIS, FEBRUARY 12 - Egypt reached an agreement on Thursday with France to buy 24 Rafale fighter jets as well as a FREMM frigate and short and medium-range missiles produced by MBDA, a joint venture that includes Italy's Finmeccanica.
| Not sure why they need Rafales except for the prestige factor. They're not going up against the Israelis any time soon, the Libyans don't have an air force, and a simple advanced trainer like a Hawk is perfectly capable of bombing terrorists in the Sinai. The Hawk is a lot cheaper and easier to maintain, too. |
Reports were in the daily Le Monde, which noted that the five-billion-euro contract lacked only the final signature from the representatives of the two governments. The definitive signing is expected to come on Monday, said the Paris daily. President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi will sign for Egypt and either Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian or President Francois Hollande will sign for France.
The contract is the first export one for the Rafale fighter jets, produced by France's Dassault and heir to the Mirage aircraft, and was stipulated in only three months. Facilitating the acquisition, underscored Le Monde, was the position that Egypt has long held as client of French armaments.
Cairo bought its first French fighter jet, a Mirage, in 1967, just after the Six-Day War. |