Thales on Wednesday announced it signed a 10-year contract with Dassault Aviation to provide maintenance support for avionics equipment on Rafale twin-engine fighter in service with the French armed forces.
The Rafale is a self-supported combat aircraft, 100 percent manufactured in France by Dassault Aviation for the airframe, with Thales, Sagem, Snecma and MBDA providing main subsystems. The present-day Rafale features some of the very latest avionics, including the Thales RBE2 multi-mode radar, advanced Sagem Gerfaut helmet-mounted display, Spectra defensive countermeasures system and OSF, a jam-resistant, advanced passive optronic surveillance and imaging system with laser rangefinder.
“The contract is the first of its kind for this type of equipment, with a fixed price per hour of flight adding new extended services such as obsolescence management," said Pierre-Eric Pommellet, Thales senior vice president in charge of aerospace businesses. “We are continuing to tailor our services to match the evolving requirements of the armed forces while reducing the overall cost of support." For more Rafale news