Commercial Aircraft Sales

Rafale Delay Urged

The French Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen Jean Rannou, has advocated abandoning the initial version of the Dassault Rafale fighter in favor of a more advanced variant to enter service a decade later than originally planned. With the French defence budget under extreme pressure at the moment, Gen Rannou has suggested purchasing more Mirage 2000-5s and 2000Ds at the expense of the first Rafale variant (the SU1), which is due to enter service in 2000. The General says that development of the more advanced version could go ahead in the meantime and enter service in 2010. The head of France’s Defence Ministry Procurement Agency, Henri Conze, has gone the other way, suggesting the Rafale SU1 go ahead as planned but delaying the advanced variant until 2020. In the meantime the Aeronavale is still expecting first delivery of its carrier-borne Rafales in 2000. Speaking of hugely expensive new fighter projects, the first example of Japan’s Mitsubishi FS-X (basically an upgraded F-16) recorded its maiden flight on October 7 from Nagoya Airport.

New Mig Still To Fly

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