In the presence of senior Egyptian authorities and Dassault Aviation representatives, a ceremony to celebrate the Rafale’s 10,000 flight hours was held last week on the operational air base where the Egyptian Air Force’s Rafale “Wild Wolves” squadron is stationed. After an initial order in 2015, that made Egypt the Rafale’s first export customer, followed by a second in 2021, the Rafale has now reached a new milestone thanks to the Egyptian Air Force: the first 10,000 flight hours operated by a user other than the French air forces. This important milestone confirms the Rafale’s technological and operational excellence, and attests to the quality of the training of Egyptian crews received in France.
“Egypt has chosen the Rafale, recognizing its unique ‘game-changer’ character, to ensure its role in full sovereignty as a key player in the regional and international arena, in a demanding geopolitical context. This celebration around the 10,000 flight hours of the Rafale salutes the great mastery of the Egyptian Air Force, the excellence of the Rafale, and honors Dassault Aviation, which has maintained strong relations with Egypt based on trust and commitment for nearly 50 years”, said Eric Trappier, Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation.
The Dassault Rafale is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. Equipped with a wide range of weapons, the Rafale is intended to perform air supremacy, interdiction, aerial reconnaissance, ground support, in-depth strike, anti-ship strike and nuclear deterrence missions. The Rafale is referred to as an “omnirole” aircraft by Dassault. Many of the aircraft’s avionics and features, such as direct voice input, the RBE2 AA active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar and the optronique secteur frontal infra-red search and track (IRST) sensor, were domestically developed and produced for the Rafale programme.
On 16 February 2015, Egypt became the Rafale’s first international customer when it officially ordered 24 Rafales,as part of a larger deal, including a FREMM multipurpose frigate and missiles, worth US$5.9 billion (€5.2 billion). The order comprised 8 single-seat models and 16 two-seaters. In July 2015, a ceremony marking Egypt’s acceptance of its first three Rafales, was held at Dassault’s flight test center in Istres. In May 2021, Egypt ordered 30 more Rafales in a contract worth $4.5bn. On 15 November 2021, Egypt confirmed that it will receive 30 Rafale F3R between 2024 and 2026. The Egyptian Air Force is interested in buying the Rafale F4 variant once Dassault prepares it for foreign buyers.
