The French government and Safran are in talks about upgrading the M88 engine for the Dassault Rafale combat aircraft, in part to sustain industrial know-how.
France is pressing ahead with efforts to field an enhanced standard of its Rafale multi-role fighter and pair it with an uncrewed combat aerial vehicle (UCAV).
The French Air and Space Force is forming a new squadron with the Rafale now that manufacturer Dassault has resumed deliveries of the fighter to France.
Croatia has become the fifth export operator of Dassault’s Rafale fighter following delivery of the first aircraft into the country’s capital of Zagreb.
France’s defense materiel agency has begun flight tests of a new optronics sensors system destined for the next upgrade package for the Dassault Rafale.
Of the 215 used fighters expected to transfer ownership in the coming decade, 132 of them (about 61%) will be F-16s, according to Aviation Week’s Fleet Discovery Military database.