Despite Donald Trump’s outrageousness and the risk of seeing the F-35 apparatus decreased in his capacities, Europeans continue to pretend. Portuguese air force chief (FAP), Cartaxo Alves on April 22, said that ” Portugal had no other alternative than to acquire F-35 ». Before continuing: ” These are fifth generation planes. All countries have them. Germany, for example, bought it for lack of alternative. European planes, such as Rafale and Eurofighter, are less advanced. We can envisage a cutting -edge European hunter in 20 years, but there is no alternative today. »»
What forgetting the general is that the German Luftwaffe participates in NATO nuclear plans, which is not the case with the FAP. These remarks contradict what Nuno Melo, the Portuguese Defense Minister had announced last March. The latter had considered that other options, in particular European, had to be considered to replace F-16s, taking into account the evolution of the geostrategic context: “ The recent position of the United States, in the context of NATO, must make us think about the best options, because the predictability of our allies is a major asset to take into account. »»
In our columns, the CEO of Dassault Aviation, Éric Trappier, had reacted to the words of the Portuguese minister, letting know that he was counting ” to propose The Rafale-just as the Swedish Saab also quickly put himself on the ranks to submit the candidacy of his JAS-39 GRIPEN.
Customers outside Europe for the Rafale
If nothing has yet been activated on the side of Lisbon, there are more and more of them on the old continent to want to reassure the American president and the US armament market. Like good old elements of language distilled by communication boxes, General Cartaxo Alves advances the same argument as that of the Head of Belgian government by recalling that, even if it is of American design, the F-35 is assembled “in Europe”, with components produced in Italy.
On the other hand, what about the strategic sovereignty advocated – officially – the European Union? In recent weeks, several countries have said that they were going to head towards Lockheed Martin’s plane: it is therefore Belgium, Germany or Denmark, despite Donald Trump’s speeches on Greenland.
Unlike the American aircraft, the Rafale does not need any update to keep its full capacity. An argument of sale to which European countries do not seem sensitive, while only Croatia and Greece have chosen on the aircraft produced by Dassault. At the same time, its capacities are appreciated internationally: 500 copies have been sold worldwide to countries like Egypt, Qatar, Indonesia or, very recently, India.
In the international context, if the choice of European countries to maintain their order towards the F-35 may surprise, a relative of the Dassault group recently suggested ” that nothing would happen at all And that the nations of the old continent would continue to buy American.
