New Delhi: Serbia August 29 officially signed a contract to purchase 12 Dassault Aviation Rafale fighter jets, ending a two-year long procurement effort for the French-made aircraft.
The deal was signed during the meeting in Belgrade between President Emmanuel Macron of France and President Aleksandar Vučić of Serbia. Also present were the Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation, Éric Trappier, and Serbian defence minister Bratislav Gašić.
Vučić was quoted by travelling press saying that his country will received nine single-seat Rafales and three two-seaters, delivered by 2029, with a price tag of €2.7 billion ($2.99 billion).
“On behalf of Dassault Aviation and its partners, I would like to thank the Serbian authorities for the confidence they have placed in us by choosing the Rafale, and assure them of our total commitment to making its integration into the Serbian Armed Forces a success,” Trappier said in a company statement.
Buying a NATO nation’s aircraft represents a shift for Serbia away from its Soviet-era fighter jets, including MiG-21 and MiG-29 platforms.
The Serbian Armed Forces operate a wide range of other Russian and Chinese equipment, including Pantsir S-1, S-125M and FK-3 Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) systems, according to its website. Serbia also operates a fleet of six Chinese CH-92A tactical armed drones after deliveries were first made in 2020 together with a deal for 18 missiles from Beijing.
For the Rafale, the sale represents a win in an increasingly tight market for the fourth-generation fighter. Serbia joins Croatia, Egypt, Greece, India, Indonesia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates as importers of the French jet.
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