The Quest for Relevant Air Power

122 │ French Air Force
term bargains but requires significant long-term investments. Yet
autarchy in the field of defence procurement has acquired an extended
meaning. Gradually, French decision makers have shifted
their rhetoric from the notion of national autonomy to the notion
of European autonomy. 247 Accordingly, both the 1994 and the
2008 Defence White Books underline the importance of preserving
national competencies in the defence industrial sector and of European
cooperation. 248 Given this European focus, the FAF puts a
premium upon the ESDP and its ventures in the field of defence
planning and procurement. 249
Combat Aircraft
In 1985 France decided to go ahead with its own Rafale project
rather than to remain in the Eurofighter programme. 250 The FAF
opted for a multirole fighter that could replace several aircraft
types in its inventory. This was deemed a necessity both for operational
and financial reasons. 251 Slight adjustments regarding the
Rafale order were made in the wake of Operation Desert Storm,
when dual-seat aircraft were deemed more appropriate for air-toground
missions than single-seat aircraft, particularly for longrange
penetration missions. 252 To respect the financial framework
and due to the higher costs of dual-seat aircraft, the number of
planned units was reduced from 250 to 234 in 1991. Out of these
234 units, 95 were planned to be single-seat and 139 dual-seat aircraft.
253 The dual-seat version was conceived to exploit to the maximum
Rafale’s versatility, and crews were to be trained with complementary
skills. 254 Yet in 2004, while still acknowledging the
advantages of dual-seat aircraft on long-range missions, the chief
of the Air Staff decided to emphasize production of the single-seat
version. 255 Improvements in the man-machine interface might
have led to this revision.
Unlike multinational programmes, the Rafale programme was
conducted by a lean organisation, reportedly resulting in reduced
costs and leading Dassault Aviation’s chief executive officer to
maintain that the 294 Rafales the FAF (234) and French Navy (60)
planned to acquire would cost less than Germany’s 180 Eurofighters.
Moreover, the FAF actively contributed to reducing costs by preventing
excessively perfect solutions in areas considered less relevant
in today’s environment. Avionics and weapons became the