Qatar plans to upgrade and expand its Rafale fighter fleet

Qatar is reportedly discussing with Dassault Aviation the modernization of its 36 Rafale fighters to the F4 standard, and could even acquire another 24 units from 2024/2025.

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Sébastien Lecornu, French Minister of Defense, was on an official visit to Qatar, where he met with his Qatari counterpart, Khalid M Al-Attiya. The talks took place at the Dukhan base, which hosts the 36 Rafales of the Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF) and were based on «the growing number of operational interactions between our armed forces and new projects to boost cooperation on capabilities,» according to Minister Lecornu.

Entretien dense avec mon homologue @kbmalattiya, sur la base de Dukhan qui accueille les 36 Rafale qatari ????.

Au cœur de nos échanges : la multiplication des interactions opérationnelles entre nos armées et les nouveaux projets pour nourrir la coopération capacitaire. pic.twitter.com/whj0hBpzMf

— Sébastien Lecornu (@SebLecornu) July 17, 2023

Boosting the Qatari Rafale fighter fleet

The Qatari Emiri Air Force already has 36 Rafales, delivered between 2019 and 2022. According to La Tribune, Doha would like to upgrade these Rafales to the F4 standard, the most modern version of the French fighter, which is beginning to enter service with the French Armed Forces.

See also: The French Air and Space Force took delivery of its first Rafale F4.1

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In 2019, former French Defense Minister Florence Parly decided to invest €1.9 billion in upgrading French fighters to the F4 standard. This version was also chosen by the United Arab Emirates, which signed a contract in December 2021 for the purchase of 80 Rafale F4s, to be delivered between 2027 and 2030.

By the end of the year, Dassault Aviation expects the contract for Tranche 5 to be signed for 42 Rafale 4.1 (30 initially planned + 12 to replace aircraft sold second-hand to Croatia). The F4 will be the new standard for the French armed forces (Air and Space Force and Navy).

See also: The year of the Rafale- Dassault Aviation presented its financial results 2022

In addition, sources close to the negotiations told La Tribune that Doha and Paris are reportedly negotiating the possible sale of a second batch of 24 additional Rafale fighters.

In addition to the Rafale, the QEAF also ordered 36 Boeing F-15QA «Ababil» and 24 Eurofighter Typhoon Tranche 3, forming a very modern and powerful Air Force.