France looking to provide Qatar with Rafale fighter jets
3 Min Read
France is eyeing a deal with Qatar on the provision of Rafale fighter jets to the country, which would generate millions of euros for the country.
-
The Dassault Rafale jet performs a demonstration flight during the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget, north of Paris, France, June 19, 2023 (AP)
France has been planning to agree on another contract to deliver 24 Rafale fighter jets to Qatar, a deal that comes after its 2015 predecessor that saw the Arab nation acquiring 36 aircraft in 2015, La Tribune newspaper reported Tuesday.
Qatar may be requesting fighter jets from France between 2024 and 2025, the French weekly reported. It also revealed that Doha might request that France modernize the aircraft supplied in 2015 to the F4 standard.
Qatar declared its intention to acquire the fighters during a visit by French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu on July 17, wherein he met with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for discussions on the bolstering of both countries' strategic partnership, among other topics of importance to either state.
Qatar and France in 2015 struck a deal on the delivery of 24 Rafale aircraft, worth 6.3 million euros, before the former purchased another 12 fighters at a later date.
French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation received ten times fewer orders in the first half of 2023 compared to the previous year, French broadcaster BFMTV reported.
Dassault was projected to receive more orders by the end of the year upon the finalization of the deal on the supply of 26 Rafale fighters to India.
France has signed agreements on the provision of fighter jets to several Arab countries, including Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.
It is noteworthy that Dassault, along with several other French companies, were sued last year for complicity in the war on Yemen.
Three NGOs decided to take legal action in France against the companies of Dassault, Thalès, and MBDA France. The companies were accused of complicity in war crimes due to their arms sales contracts to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which used the weapons against Yemeni civilians in the Saudi-led war on Yemen.
A member of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), Canel Lavit, who is also one of the civil parties that filed a complaint against the three companies, explained that "export arms to the coalition (led by Saudi Arabia), knowing that it has been committing war crimes since 2015 in Yemen." These companies are also accused of complicity in crimes against humanity.
