The Emirates sign a historic order for 80 “Rafale” with France

French President Emmanuel Macron and Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed, during the announcement of the contract to purchase 80 Rafale hunts, on December 3, 2021 in Dubai.

© Thomas Samson, AFP

Text by: RFI Follow

3 min

The United Arab Emirates signed a contract on Friday (December 3rd) for the acquisition of 80 “Rafale” combat aircraft, on the occasion of French President Emmanuel Macron's diplomatic tour in the Gulf region.

If this contract is unprecedented, because no foreign country has ever ordered such a volume at once and in an area where American armaments are king, it also raises questions at the level of human rights.

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All at once, 80

Rafale

in a firm order without a purchase option and above all without financial or industrial compensation.

This purchase of a block off the shelf is indeed

unheard of for Dassault's flagship aircraft

.

This success is explained to the French Ministry of the Armed Forces by the excellence of the “ 

strategic partnership

 ” which has linked France to the

United Arab Emirates

for decades.

Paris, which welcomes this " 

major achievement

 " recalls that the Emirates had in the past already acquired 60

Mirage 2000-9

, to the highest standards.

The choice of the

Rafale

is also due to the lesser involvement of the Americans in the Gulf countries.

Since the United States seems to be focusing its efforts more on the Indo-Pacific region,

the Emirates

have chosen - out of prudence - to diversify their security offer by relying on France and the excellence of its technology.

Massive hires at Dassault

The

Rafale

purchased will be the same as that of the French Air Force in the years to come.

It was brought to the F-4 standard, which is an airplane in every way comparable to the famous American F-35 from Lockheed Martin.

It is a very connected aircraft, precisely, capable of exchanging information in real time between several devices, able to designate a target with several without going through voice or conventional radio.

► 

To read also: 

"Rafale Papers": French justice opens an investigation for suspicion of corruption

In a total value of 16 billion euros, it is a major success for the company Dassault, whose order books are full for the next ten years.

The manufacturer will have to hire massively in order to multiply by two or three the production rate of the

Rafale

 : to date, only eleven aircraft are produced each year.

New contracts with regimes accused of human rights violations

If other juicy contracts are in sight,

the race for contracts

with non-democratic regimes raises questions, all the more so a few days after the revelations of the Disclose site on the excesses of Franco-Egyptian anti-terrorist cooperation.

As for the three Gulf monarchies, Paris considers them useful allies.

Because they are big customers for the French armament, as well as key interlocutors in the fight against terrorism.

“ 

Cooperating with these states is essential to guarantee the security of the French and Europeans,

 ” said the Élysée.

Useful allies, but embarrassing allies too, because they are regularly accused of violating human rights.

Washington and the Saudi kingdom have been cold since the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018: the CIA has publicly denounced the involvement of Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Salman in this assassination.

Human rights, " 

a stain on Emmanuel Macron's diplomatic record

 "?

However, President Macron will become, on Saturday, December 4, the first major Western leader to shake hands with the Saudi dolphin ... the very one to whom US President Joe Biden refuses to speak.

Saudi Arabia, like the Emirates, are also customers of the French defense industry ... even though some of

these weapons could have been used in the war in Yemen

, at the origin

of one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.

, according to the UN.

The NGO Human Rights Watch has also castigated " 

dubious military partnerships in the name of counter-terrorism and to the detriment of human rights which will remain as a stain on the diplomatic record of Emmanuel Macron

 ".

► 

See also: 

France: the supervision of French arms sales at the heart of a parliamentary report

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