PARIS — France is still in talks with Egypt on the sale of Rafale fighter jets, a multimission frigate and missiles, a French Defense Ministry spokesman said, denying a press report that the Egyptian political leader has approved the arms deal.
"There are still a few days of dialogue, during which we will remain extremely cautious over making any hasty announcements," the spokesman said.
Afternoon daily Le Monde reported that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi approved on Monday evening the contract to buy 24 Rafales, a multimission frigate and MBDA missiles worth more than €5 billion (US $5.7 billion) and the official signing could take place in the next few days.
A senior French defense official has said the deal was still under negotiation.
"There's still work to be done, but we're optimistic," defense procurement chief Laurent Collet-Billon said on Monday about Feb. 9 of the negotiations with Egypt. Collet-Billon was speaking at the annual press conference by the procurement office,
Direction Générale de l'Armement .
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Sunday that Feb. 8 there are were "fairly advanced" discussions with Egypt and the talks are were still continuing. "I hope it will get done," he said in a television interview backed by Europe 1, Le Monde and I Télé.
Egypt is keen to acquire the Dassault Aviation Rafale and DCNS multimission frigate in time for the planned opening of a new waterway for the Suez Canal in August. The prospective deal is worth €5 billion to €6 billion, and includes MBDA air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles to arm the Rafale, and the Aster 15 surface-to-air weapon for the multimission frigate, known as the frégate multimission (FREMM).
The Egyptian deal requires loans from French banks to partly finance the deal. , which also draws on its own funds from Egypt.
If the deal goes ahead, this would be the first export sale of the Rafale. France needs to seal foreign sales deals for the fighter to relieve the budgetary burden and maintain the annual production rate of 11 units.
Email: ptran@defensenews.com
