French Defense budget 2011

The french defense budget 2011 has just been released. As far as the Rafale is concerned, 11 planes will be delivered by Dassault. They are part of the 59 Rafale F3 of the tranche 3 ordered in 2004 (36 C, 11 B and 12 M). 11 is the minimum production rate to keep the cost efficiency of the assembly line. As no export order has been secured in 2010, the french government has been forced to follow its inital Rafale delivery schedule to the french forces at the expense of the Mirage 2000D Mid Life Update which has been canceled/postponed.


Those 11 Rafale will bring the total number delivered to the french forces to 104 :

Rafale M : 33 / 10 F1 (M1 to M10) and  23 F3 (M11 to M33)
Note M22 and M25 lost in 2009 (mid-air collision)

Rafale B : 38 F3 (B301 to B338)
Note : B326 lost in 2006 (spatial disorientation)

Rafale C : 33 F3 (C101 to C133)

It is also worth noting that 176 AASM bombs, 70 mica missiles and 6 reco-NG pods will be delivered.

Sources : French Mindef and http://www.aviationweek.com/