And if Egypt was the first country customer Rafale ...

In early summer 2011, the Egyptian military sent him to Paris an "expression of interest" for the Rafale. Paris was embarrassed and Dassault Aviation is not interested.

It was early in the summer of 2011 shortly after the pressure of the Egyptian street has been the head of Hosni Mubarak in February. At that time, the military, including Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who headed the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF), expecting at any time to return power to civilians. But they have money. And want to spend before their departure. "We realized they had lots of kitties," said one expert dossier to "latribune.fr." Another source confirms that "there was in the Egyptian military frenzy to sign arms contracts." Cairo is well received in Paris "expression of interest" for the tricolor fighter, the Rafale, according to several sources. Egyptian military would provide much between 12 and 20 aircraft.

Dassault Aviation not interested

Surprising that embarrasses a request, it seems, France. However, Paris does not want to offend Egypt with whom she discusses other contracts. For its part, the manufacturer of the Rafale, Dassault Aviation, it is much less diplomatic. It is really not interested in this operation as it seeks to resettle the Mirage 2000-9 of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through the sale of 60 Rafale in Abu Dhabi. Why not Egypt, which has in its fleet of Mirage 2000 upgrade old. First export customer of the single-engine designed by Dassault Aviation, Cairo was paid in early 2000 20 Mirage 2000 (16 EM and 4 Mirage 2000 Mirage 2000 WB) and the first copies were received in 1986. However, Paris began to discuss with Cairo to understand the needs of the Egyptian military. Egyptian drivers even try the Rafale. But it will not go away.

The reluctant France under the regional geostrategic context

The French government is very reluctant to sell the Rafale in a country still very unstable at the time the threat of the Muslim Brotherhood. In addition, Israel would have been opposed to the sale to the image of the recent acquisition of two German submarines U-209 by Egypt. Berlin and Cairo concluded in summer 2011 the sale for an amount of 920 million euros. Finally, the United States would probably never be allowed to Cairo to offer Rafale. We must remember that the source code of Egyptian F-16 are locked by Washington. These devices "can not fly when they are approaching the Israeli border," says an observer.