A source of our blog in Serbia reported interesting information about statements by Serbian officials regarding the reasons for Serbia's choice to purchase French Dassault Rafale fighters. Recall that on August 29, 2024, in Belgrade, the Serbian Ministry of Defense signed a contract with the French company Dassault Aircraft for the purchase of 12 new-built Rafale fighters (nine single and three double) of the F4 modification for the Serbian Air Force and Air Defense. The contract value is 2.7 billion euros, including the cost of aviation weapons. Rafale aircraft are to be delivered to Serbia in 2028 and should replace 14 MiG-29 fighters in service with the Serbian Air Force and Air Defense.
The first Dassault Rafale B prototype fighter aircraft received by the French Ministry of the Armed Forces (serial number B359) in the F4.1 version, 2023 (c) DGA
Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic, in his speech to the Serbian parliament, explained in sufficient detail the reasons why Serbia chose the French Dassault Rafale fighter, and, even more interestingly, the reasons why other manufacturers of multi-purpose combat aircraft and their products were not actually considered by the Serbian side.
During the debate on the revision of the state budget in the Serbian parliament, Prime Minister Vucevic responded to a remark from one of the deputies who stated that future Serbian Rafales would have "built-in blocking of use against NATO countries."
Vucevic, instead of ignoring another theory about the deliberate curtailment of the capabilities of future multipurpose combat aircraft of the Serbian Air Force, gave a longer, but not too detailed answer, which represents the first official state interpretation of the reasons for Serbia's choice of Rafale fighters and the alleged shortcomings of proposals and solutions from other manufacturers. Prime Minister Vucevic was the Minister of Defense of Serbia during the final stage of negotiations on Rafale, so the experts involved in the negotiations probably informed him about the theses that he outlined.
Reminding the MP who asked the question that the Serbian army already uses French helicopters and radars, Vucevic listed potential proposals from all other manufacturers (except the Swedish Saab AB group): "There was a project and discussion with a consortium of European countries or that coalition for production, we are talking about the Eurofighter aircraft, they did not yield results and were discontinued more ten years ago, and there has been no progress since then." - Vucevic thus confirmed that Serbia was negotiating the Eurofighter Typhoon, but it is unclear from his response why the negotiations on Typhoon "did not yield results" and why they did not develop. It is also possible that he was referring to negotiations that took place much earlier than the recent negotiations on the purchase of Rafale.
Vucevic then mentioned the reasons why the United States is not an option: "The United States is not currently considering our armed forces as a possible aviation supply partner. We even had talks about combat training aircraft, but even with this, everything is going pretty hard. For various reasons, what is the international and defense policy of the United States." Vucevic said, confirming the information that the Americans, or rather the American state (and not the companies producing these aircraft), did not want to offer Serbia either used or new fighters.
The first mention of something American "combat training" appeared in the summer of 2020, when a story about Serbia's possible purchase of the T-7A Redhawk aircraft got into the mainstream tabloids. But this is an aircraft that will not even enter the US Air Force until 2028. Later, as reported last year from Dubai, the commander of the 252nd training squadron of the Serbian Air Force had the opportunity to test an exhibition simulator (it differs from the real one) of the Boeing Saab T-7A aircraft.
Vucevic then mentioned options for purchasing fighter jets from Russia and China, concluding that for logistical reasons this option was not considered. Simply put, NATO did not allow Serbia to deliver them: "And we talked with partners from the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China, but you have two objective problems. One is general, the other is specific. First of all, the Russian Federation is currently absolutely focused on its own capabilities due to the war in Ukraine and considers supplying its army a priority of all priorities.
Secondly, the supply issue is a common challenge for the market and the Russian Federation, which is particularly sensitive due to sanctions and the war, as well as for the market of the People's Republic of China. The question is how, when you want to buy something and you have money, you can get it. Since we are surrounded by NATO countries, that is, countries that are members of NATO, and even those that are not members of NATO, but have NATO troops on their territory, it is very difficult, I would say impossible, to deliver such weapons. especially when it comes to airplanes."
Vucevic concluded this interesting review with the Chinese J-10, which he said was "a great aircraft with really great technology," but "we don't have the physical capability to get it to Serbia."
In the end, he mentioned that the delivery package for the Serbian Rafale includes spare parts and a "training center", probably referring to the simulator.
The Prime Minister concluded his response by mentioning Egypt, a country visited by representatives of the Ministry of Defense and the Serbian Air Force and Air Defense to receive information from their Egyptian colleagues about their experience in operating the Rafale.
At a demonstration of the capabilities of the Serbian army "Zastava 2024", Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, answering the question of which variant of the Rafale fighter Serbia had acquired, said that "the latest version 4.1" had been purchased.
Such a response was expected, given the fact that when signing the contract, Vucic stated that "the most modern type of Rafale was purchased."
The F4.1 is the first stage of development of the F4 version launched by Dassault Aviation in January 2019. Flight tests of the F4 demonstrator began in May 2021. In early March 2023, the first prototype Rafale B two-seat fighter, upgraded to the F4.1 level, was delivered to the Flight Test Center of the French Air Force (Centre d'expertise aérienne militaire) at the VA 118 Mont de Marsan air base.
In mid-February 2024, the French Aerospace Forces announced the achievement of the initial operational capability of this variant, as well as its adoption into service.
It is planned that all existing French fighters (versions B, C and M), brought up to the F3R level, will be refined to the F4 standard, the development of which is divided into two stages - F4.1 and F4.2. France should receive the first F4 fighters of the new production in the fifth ordered tranche in 2027 (42 aircraft have now been contracted with a delivery date until 2030), whereas before that the first F4 aircraft will begin to be received by the UAE in 2026.
Serbia, after France and the UAE, will become the third user of the F4 variant overall. Interestingly, Indonesia, although it signed a contract after the UAE, was nevertheless the last customer of the F3R variant.
