French Navy 'Charles de Gaulle' aircraft carrier reinforces NATO's activities in Eastern Europe
According to a Marine Nationale (French Navy) statement 'Charles de Gaulle CSG set sail again yesterday after a few days of port call in Cyprus. Clemenceau22 continues, but the mission evolves to adapt to the current geopolitical situation. (...). The detection capabilities of the E2-C Hawkeye will notably enable the carrier strike group to assess the surface situation at the Europe maritime borders, especially in the Black Sea. Deployed yesterday in CJTFOIR to fight against Daech, engaged today for the benefit of the reassurance of our NATO partners on the eastern flank of Europe, the carrier strike group continues to operate for the protection of France and the European continent.'
The 'Charles de Gaulle' will contribute 3 Combat Air Patrols (CAP) of two Rafale M each, per day. This translates into a nearly permanent (24 hours) presence. In addition, a daily E-2C Hawkeye flight is planned from the carrier, as well as occasion patrols by the two ATL2 Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) currently based in Cyprus. The Rafale M will be refueled by NATO tankers present in the area. The patrol zones are the skies above Romania, Bulgaria and the Black Sea, sailing in the Mediterranean sea.
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Production of Rafale fighters will increase to three per month by the middle of the decade on the back of export sales success from a planned two-per-month rate.
In 2021, Dassault booked orders for 49 examples of the Rafale: 31 for Egypt, 12 for France and six for Greece. .However, those figures do not include blockbuster orders from the United Arab Emirates (80) and Indonesia (42), which were respectively signed in December 2021 and February this year. Greece is also likely to commit to another six aircraft, and France is expected to commit to at least another 42 in 2023, under its fifth order tranche for delivery from 2027.
However, the sharp ramp-up will not take place in 2022, when Dassault will ship just 13 Rafales, down from 25 in 2021, all of which will again go to export customers, Egypt and India.
Deliveries of the Rafale to France have been paused for several years due to some budgetary choices and are only likely to resume from 2023 or beyond.
Last year Croatia also joined the Rafale operator community, signing for 12 secondhand examples from France.
Air Force One replacement facing additional delays
While the Air Force and Boeing have yet to finalize a new schedule for the presidential aircraft replacement program, it now appears that the first new Air Force One plane will be delivered to the service even later than previously expected.
Boeing now expects that it will deliver the first VC-25B a total of 17 months later than originally scheduled.
That timeline has not been accepted by the Air Force and could change as the service negotiates with Boeing on a new schedule baseline. But Boeing’s new projection, which has been conveyed to stakeholders outside of the company, represents a growth from the 12-month delay presented by the company last year.
Boeing has pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic and the bankruptcy of its now-defunct subcontractor GDC Technics as the major causes of the delay. GDC Technics was under contract to build the interiors of the VC-25B, but Boeing cancelled the contract and sued GDC,.
Any cost increases associated with the delay would be borne by Boeing, due to the fixed-price nature of its $3.9 billion contract with the Air Force. That contract covers the engineering, manufacturing and development work associated with turning baseline Boeing 747s into a presidential aircraft furnished with highly-classified defensive systems, hardened electronics and secure communications gear.
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