Story ID: 701 Dassault pressconf.doc
Dassault Boss Reviews Rafale’s Great Year
By: Chris Pocock
Caption: India expected to sign soon for 36, may still agree 90 more for in-country production.
Word Count: 591
It’s been quite a year for Dassault Aviation, with major milestones for the Falcon business jet line, breakthrough export orders for the Rafale combat aircraft from Egypt and Qatar and the 100th flight of the stealthy Neuron UCAS demonstrator. So there was an air of quiet satisfaction about Eric Trappier’s pre-show media briefing on Friday.

Moreover, the company chairman and CEO was “cautiously optimistic” that India will proceed with the full Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) requirement for 126 Rafale combat aircraft, not just the 36 that the country intends to buy from the French production line.

Trappier expressed hope that the contract for the first 36 jets could be signed in September. Dassault is awaiting that event before committing to an early increase in the Rafale production rate. Right now, the company is still planning to maintain the rate at 11 aircraft this year and the same for next year. But six from this year’s production will go to Egypt instead of France, three of them “in the next few weeks,” Trappier confirmed.

Amplifying on the negotiations with India on further Rafale production there, Trappier said it was now agreed that Dassault would “take the lead and find local partners.” The MMRCA negotiations previously foundered on whether state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) could take the responsibility of prime contractor.

Trappier suggested that discussions to revive the MMRCA deal could conclude by the end of this year. Among the other export prospects for Team Rafale, which also includes Thales and Snecma, are Belgium, Canada, Kuwait and the UAE.

Leading on Neuron

Dassault is the lead company on the six-nation Neuron program. The 100th flight took place at Istres airbase in southern France this past February and was the most recent from French soil. The sole test vehicle has since completed some dozen flights from Decimomannu airbase in Sardinia in Italy and is en route for Sweden where the last few flights are scheduled. They include the release of a GPS-guided bomb on the Vidsel test range.

Trappier said that Dassault was talking to the French government about a possible extension to the program. Meanwhile, he will have a meeting with British officials here next week on the follow-on Future Combat Air System (FCAS), which does not involve the other Neuron partners. Dassault and BAE Systems are working on a two-year FCAS study that was signed in November.

Last month, the defense ministers of France, Germany and Italy declared their intent to fund project definition of a European medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) UAV. Trappier told AIN that he did not expect the countries to ink the pact this week, because they have not yet decided how exactly to manage the project. Show-goers can view a model of a potential configuration on the Dassault stand (Hall 2a A251).

The Falcons and the Rafales are the glamorous side of the business, but there’s also the evergreen Dassault Atlantique maritime patrol aircraft (MPA). The company is upgrading 15 of these for the French Navy as the ATL2 version.

Trappier took a dig at the UK for “giving up on maritime patrol” via the controversial grounding of the Nimrods in 2010. In theory, Dassault could offer the UK some ATL2s if the country decides to reintroduce an MPA after its current defense review. But Trappier isn’t wasting time on that possibility–“they’ll buy American” he confidently predicted, referring to the Boeing P-8A Poseidon.