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World
Aviation Defense & Security News - France & Qatar |
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Qatar, France and Team Rafale officially ink deal for 24 Rafale multirole fighter aircraft | |||||
The
multibillion-dollar contract between the State of Qatar and Dassault Aviation
for 24 Rafale
multirole fighter aircraft has been signed on Monday, May
4 in Doha in the presence of Mr. François Hollande, President of
the French Republic. Following on from the Mirage F1, the Alpha Jet and
the Mirage 2000, the Rafale is set to extend the historic partnership
between Qatar, France and Dassault Aviation. |
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Dassault
CEO Eric Trappier and Qatari General Ahmed al-Malki sign contract for
24 Rafale fighter aicraft on Monday 4 in Doha, Qatar (Dassault Aviation) |
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The
contract was signed by Dassault CEO Eric Trappier and Qatari General Ahmed
al-Malki, who oversaw negotiations for the €6.3bn ($7bn) deal.
“This new success for the French team demonstrates the Rafale’s operational qualities and confirms the confidence that countries, that are already users of the Mirage 2000, have in our company”, said last week Eric Trappier, Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation. French President Francois Hollande told General al-Malki during the ceremony that Qatar had made a "good choice" in purchasing the warplanes, an AFP correspondent said. General al-Malki also signed an agreement on Monday with multinational missile group MBDA. |
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HE
the Minister of State for Defence Major General Hamad bin Ali al-Attiyah
and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian inked a separate deal which
will see France train 36 Qatari pilots and around 100 mechanical engineers,
as well as intelligence officers.
Monday's ceremony was a "success for Dassault" and "the result of hard work by the team," Trappier said. Having struggled for years to sell any of its Rafale jets abroad, Dassault has recently scored several lucrative, high-profile contracts with Egypt, India, and now Qatar. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said recently that talks with the United Arab Emirates on buying Rafales were also headed in the "right direction". |
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