- Egyptian Air Force becomes the first Dassault Rafale export user to reach 10,000 flight hours.
- Dassault Aviation and EAF hosted a ceremony to commemorate this milestone.
The Egyptian Air Force (EAF) and Dassault Aviation hosted a ceremony to celebrate Egypt’s Air Force becoming the first Dassault Rafale export customer to reach 10,000 flying hours on the type, after flying the Rafale since 2015.
Dassault Aviation is a subsidiary of Dassault Group. It is a French manufacturer of military aircraft and business jets. The manufacturing industry has had a series of name changes since it was founded in 1929 as Societe des Avions Marcel Bloch. It was renamed in 1990 as Dassault Aviation which is the current name.
The ceremony was held last week in Egypt where Dassault spoke on the significance of this milestone to Rafale’s technological and operational excellence and the quality of training Egyptian crews had received in France.
“It illustrates the great skill of the Egyptian Air Force, which has carried out the transformation of its pilots and mechanics to the Rafale with ease and fluidity”, Dassault said.
Since January 2013, Dassault Aviation has been headed by Eric Trappier. Speaking on the occasion as the Chairman and CEO of Dassault, Eric said “Egypt has chosen the Rafale, this celebration salutes the great mastery of the EAF, the excellence of the Rafale, and honors Dassault Aviation”.
In 2015 and 2021, Egypt ordered 24 and 30 Rafales respectively. The Egyptian Rafales have been armed with HAMMER stand-off weapons, MICA air-to-air missiles, AI Tariq-guided munitions, and SCALP cruise missiles.
Dassault Rafale literally means “gust of wind” and “bust of fire” in a more military manner. It is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multi-role fighter aircraft designed and manufactured by Dassault Aviation.