Dassault receives order for 42 Rafale F4 fighters for French Air and Space Force

It was announced today that, by the end of December 2023, the French Defense Procurement Agency (DGA) awarded Dassault Aviation, Thales, Safran and MBDA the contract for the 5th production phase of the Rafale program.

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According to the DGA, the contract covers the production of 42 single-seat aircrafts of the F4 standard for the French Air and Space Force, which was eager to fill the gap left in its fleet by the sale of second-hand fighters to Greece and Croatia.

The Rafale F4s are the latest production standard of the successful French fighter (with seven customer countries to date) and will feature the latest equipment, allowing the armed forces to benefit from enhanced connectivity and self-protection capabilities. This order is a further step towards collaborative and connected aerial combat.

Une nouvelle étape décisive est franchie avec la commande de 42 Rafale pour l’@Armee_de_lair !

C’est une excellente nouvelle pour notre souveraineté, notre sécurité et pour nos armées, qui bénéficieront de Rafale supplémentaires aux capacités opérationnelles modernisées. pic.twitter.com/i0FGaFxJcO

— Sébastien Lecornu (@SebLecornu) January 12, 2024

«A new decisive step has been taken with the order of 42 Rafale for the French Air Force. This is excellent news for our sovereignty, our security and for our armed forces, which will benefit from additional Rafales with modernized operational capabilities,» Sébastien Lecornu, French Minister of Defense, said on his social networks.

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The aircraft of this 5th production phase will be of the F4 standard, which development started in 2018 and whose first increment was qualified by the DGA in March 2023. This standard includes the integration of the Contact radio, the new-generation MICA NG missile and the Digital Autonomous Scrambler (BAN) integrated into the Rafale’s SPECTRA self-protection system. These fighters will also be designed to be upgraded to the F5 standard in the 2030s.

See also: The future Rafale F5 will not have a SEAD/DEAD version, but will compensate with nEUROn drones

This contract, in addition to increasing the workload of the French defense industry, will further fund the development of the future Standard 5, currently being prepared for launch, which will bring new capabilities in collaborative combat and «network-centric warfare». These advances will subsequently be applied to the European 6th generation FCAS fighter.