France Sends Rafale Combat Jets to Poland

Image: Wikipedia

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will visit Poland's Malbork air base April 29 to attend a ceremony marking the deployment of four Rafale combat jets there, and to meet with French airmen who will operate the aircraft over the next four months.

From the beginning of the crisis in Ukraine, France has offered to send E-3F Sentry airborne early warning aircraft (AWACS) and fighters in support of NATO air capabilities. Since early April, French AWACS have been conducting surveillance missions for the alliance in eastern Europe, mainly over Poland and Romania.

As of April 28, the four Rafale C jets will be stationed at Poland's 22nd tactical air base in Malbork as part of a dual mission: Training the Polish air force in air policing; and to be available at NATO's request for policing Baltic airspace.
The four planes will serve as a complement to aircraft already committed by NATO to the Air Baltic mission.


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Morocco Receives Three Fighter Jets from France

Boosting the military corporation between the two strategic partners, France put three Mirage F1- B jet fighters in the service of the Moroccan Royal Air Force after the French Air Force tested them.Moroccan pilots will deploy the old fighter aircrafts in Royal Air Force exercises, according to Almassa.

According to the same source, the distinctive single-engine fighters were handed to the Moroccan army after Dassault Aviation, the manufacturing company, improved the fighter’s traditional delta wing design in order to facilitate the ability to use rudimentary runways.
Last year, the Mirage F1- B was deployed to support the Baltic Air Policing mission in Lithuania and the French-led operation against extremists in Mali.Since 1966, this type of fighter jet has been exported by Dassault Aviation to the Middle East, Latin America, Europe, and Northern Africa, particularly Libya and Morocco.

These three aircrafts will boost the Mirage F1- B collection of the Royal Air Force, which has already acquired 27 jet fighters of this kind.



http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2014/04/128978/morocco-receives-three-fighter-jets-from-france/

Indian and French air forces to have joint exercise 'Garuda-5' from June 3, 2014

File Photo: IAF

Indian and French air forces to have joint exercise 'Garuda-5' from June 3, 2014 at Rajasthan's Jodhpur airbase from June 3 for air superiority operations.Four Rafale multi-role fighter aircraft and one air-refueller aircraft with more than 100 personnel would form the French delegation.

The training consisting of air to air refuelling, basic and advanced fighter interceptions, protection of high-value aerial targets and group combat manoeuvring would be the main focus of the exercise.Both the Indian Air Force and French Air Force would be engaged in various missions ranging from close combat engagement of large forces, slow mover protection, and protecting and engaging high-value aerial assets in the exercise at the strategic airbase near Indo-Pak border, they said.

French EC-725 Caracal combat helicopters refuel from Italian Hercules C130J

France Offers 4 Warplanes for Baltic Air Patrols

France is offering to send warplanes to help provide air patrols over the Baltic states and Poland, officials said Friday, amid growing tensions between the West and Russia and despite a looming big-ticket military deal between Paris and Moscow.

Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, visiting NATO allies Estonia, Lithuania and Poland, announced France's willingness to support an alliance air-patrol mission in the Baltic states. The announcement suggested France was lining up with the most hawkish countries in the European Union over Russia's attempt to annex the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine — a move that has spooked some other former Soviet republics that are now independent nations.

The offer echoed those of the United States and Britain.

"France has heard the requests of its allies, and I told my Estonian colleague that France is ready to strengthen air defenses ... by sending four fighters from the French air force," Le Drian told reporters in the Estonian capital, Tallinn.

A French contribution could also include air support for fellow NATO member Poland, and include warplanes, AWACs surveillance aircraft and radar, a French defense official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. Le Drian said the AWACs would operate out of bases near the crisis area — "particularly in Poland and Romania."

Despite the tensions, officials in Paris have said that France still plans to go through with a three-year-old deal to provide two warships to Russia — the first of which is set for delivery in October. The 1.2-billion-euro ($1.6-billion) deal marked the biggest-ever sale of NATO military hardware to Moscow.