Will the Clodoaldian aircraft manufacturer achieve its biggest coup since it began marketing its omnirole fighter export? For approximately 48 hours, the majority of major generalists and the special aeronautical and defense media in India have announced the victory of Dassault Aviation Rafale F4 overIndian Navy. Despite the disdain that Boeing and its F/A-18E/F Super Hornet will represent, this will be the first sale of the Rafale M overseas.. It might as well be the only one, let’s be very objective.
Because we can’t say enough, without saying the Indian program Multi-Role Carrier-Borne Fighter, the Dassault Aviation Rafale M will remain as it was designed to be: a ride for French fighter pilots. Moreover, it was thought out for them and with their help, never thought that one day could be thrown from the flight deck of a foreigner under a cockade other than a hook. How you should never despair.
In fact, the more the subject was turned back in all directions, the more logical the agitation of the two-day French-Indian flight microcosm. Between Boeing’s pathetic communications about the scheduled closing of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet assembly line and the demonstration of the efficiency of the Rafale F3 atIndian Air Force it all led to a logical victory for Dassault Aviation withIndian Navy.
Two and a half months ago we announced that the spring of 2023 will be decisive for the Rafale M and India. Here he is.
From Paris, from the Élysée actually, a lead has come to us this week. The Presidency of the Republic has announced that Mr Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, will be the guest of honor at the parade on 14 July 2023 in Paris. If Emmanuel Macron invites his Indian counterpart under the Fifth Republic gold, it will not only be to celebrate a quarter century of partnership between our two countries.
In fact when Boeing dared to claim that only the Indian contract could still save the industrialization of its F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, many of us found that it smelled bad for the American aircraft manufacturer. I’Indian Navy not interested in acquiring twenty-six copies of the device at the end of its life, it has more to acquire a machine that still has at least twenty years of development potential. So buying the Rafale F4 is pure logic.
It remains to be seen whether Narendra Modi will wait in Paris to announce Dassault Aviation’s victory over Boeing or whether he will do so beforehand. And there is no more aeronautics or defense, it is diplomacy and politics, meaning a very different story.
Photo © French Navy
