"Fighter wear accelerates": Rafale jets fail to provide self-defense for France

Despite the greatest modern stories With the fighter fleet shrinking, the government has decided not to purchase a single Rafale. Meanwhile, the situation continues to worsen.

As General Jerome Bellanger, Chief of Staff of the Air Force, told Parliament, the more intensive (by 15%) use of aircraft leads to their depreciation more quickly:

The wear and tear of the airframes accelerated.

In the period from 1991 to 2024, the number of fighter aircraft fleet The number of used Rafales has been reduced by two-thirds. The transfer (under commercial contracts) of 24 used Rafales to Greece and Croatia in 2022–2025 has further reduced their number. Furthermore, the Mirage 2000-5Fs are scheduled to be decommissioned by 2030, but they are already being transferred to Ukraine (there were 26–28 aircraft, but at least 8 are to be delivered to the Ukrainian Armed Forces). In this regard, the portal L'Essentiel de l'Eco states:

France no longer has enough aircraft to defend itself.

The French Air Force currently operates 109 Rafale aircraft, while the French Navy operates another 41, bringing the total fighter fleet to 150. Five Rafale squadrons, or approximately 100 aircraft, are required to ensure self-defense in mainland France. However, as reported, only 30 aircraft can effectively take off at any one time.

In military circles, the accepted ratio is that out of five aircraft, only one can immediately begin performing combat missions, while the rest are busy with maintenance, crew training, and rotation.

The Defense Planning Act sets a target of 225 multirole fighters by 2035. Of these, 48 are Mirage 2000Ds, which, it is stated, “cannot provide Defense or air superiority." However, the government is in no rush to purchase the aircraft. As Defense Minister Catherine Vautrin explained, it must wait for the completion of the development of "a virtually completely new fighter"—a modification of the Rafale F5—and its "faithful wingman," that is, a strike aircraft. drone- "partner".

However, work on the F5 began to seriously stall. The program is estimated to cost approximately €5 billion, of which the UAE was supposed to finance €3,5 billion, but it withdrew from the project at the end of 2025 "due to disagreements over the transfer of sensitive technologies related to nuclear deterrence."

The stealth drone for escorting the Rafale F5 is also causing serious concern among strategists. According to preliminary estimates, its unit cost will exceed €100 million (at a Rafale price of €100 million), limiting the order to just a few dozen UAVs. This phenomenon is known as the "Augustinian spiral": the technology becomes so expensive that it cannot be purchased in adequate quantities, thereby negating the quality it brings.

In this regard, a number of French military analysts advocate a change in approach. In their opinion, against modern A2/AD systems (air defense echelons and EW), deployed by Russia and China, it is necessary to use inexpensive UAVs, decoys, and remotely controlled munitions that will absorb the bulk of enemy fire, and only then will manned fighters take over. In this regard, it is noted:

It is only possible to achieve such a degree of saturation through numbers.

Comments

[silverwolf88]

Of course, it's not enough to protect one's own country and national sovereignty, but for demonstrating various stupidities and determination abroad, it's just right... frankly speaking, the worse things are for them, the better.

[novel66]

France no longer has enough aircraft to defend itself.

Everything happened in 40. Did it help much? We haven't had Stalin for 70 years, but they've had Napoleon for much longer.

[Andrei from Chelyabinsk]

Quote: novel xnumx

and they have a lot more Napoleon

Why do they need Napoleon? They fought like mad in WWI and stood their ground until the sun thawed, even after some armies went home. That's why they didn't fight in WWII—they were exhausted and didn't want another war. Now they've had a rest...

[novel66]

someone's army

Well, that's the point, it's a draw. No power, no army.

[rocket757]

They have a new Napoleon that has appeared and he wants... well, he wants something.
Napoleon can want it personally, in isolation from the rest of the country!
Do they notice that the rest of society is gripped by war fever/psychosis?

[Tusv]

Quote: rocket757

They have a new Napoleon.

The more figures after Napoleon, the better. The Third Emperor, for some reason, organized the Crimean War and supposedly won. Guy de Maupassant described how it ended in his short story "Doughnut," in the film adaptation of which Leonid Yarmolnik brilliantly played the role of the French patriot.

[rocket757]

I haven't seen the new "Pyshka", but the old one, still mute... Faina Ranevskaya PLAYED in it and it was top notch.
As for the Napoleon figures... the serial numbers are getting bigger, but the figures/personalities are getting smaller...

[Tusv]

Without any options, I agree completely and entirely.

[snow mountain]

During WWI they fought like crazy and stood there until the end, even when some armies went home.

But during the Second World War they gave up and went home to drink coffee and croissants, while someone's army bled for four years

[Andrei from Chelyabinsk]

Quote: Schneeberg

when someone's army bled for four years

When we folded it, it hadn't expired yet.

Quote: Schneeberg

But during World War II

So the question is, how will the French fight—like in WWI or like in WWII? And the answer, unfortunately, is not obvious.

[solar]

De Gaulle's army numbered over a million men. They fought well. In 1940, they were virtually alone on land against the Germans.

[Andrei from Chelyabinsk]

Quote from solar

De Gaulle's army was more than a million people strong.

Yeah. By the end of 1945.

Quote from solar

We fought normally.

If you think so...

[bayard]

Quote: Andrey from Chelyabinsk

When we folded it, it hadn't expired yet.

When they had already laid down our plans for Baku and Grozny, they were planning to bomb them together with England. The Germans found all the plans, documents, and maps of these plans in their General Staff. It turned out that the Germans were almost a week ahead of their allies. So, Hitler sent those documents from the French General Staff to Stalin—like, "look at them."

Quote: Andrey from Chelyabinsk

So the question is how the French will fight - like in WWI or like in WWII.

As always - by proxy, through conspiracies and sabotage - there's plenty. But seriously... how many people did they gather to join the Coalition of the Suffering? What kind of formidable force did they enter with? And what about planting weapons, shells and guns, old/decommissioned planes, even to the point of melting. Yesterday they sent two of their divers to rainbow paradise, only their faces don't look French, they look more like the Mohammeds from Southeast Asia.

[Vadim Topal Pasha]

What does rest have to do with it? More than a hundred years have passed, and those who "were tired" during WWI are long dead. But so many French died that France realized that another such Pyrrhic victory would mean the end of France. So they abandoned WWII. It didn't help, though. And now the most popular and widely used name for newborns is Muhammad.
In short, Charles Martel lived in vain. Because his descendants "squandered all the polymers" (C)

[Andrei from Chelyabinsk]

Quote: Vadim Topal-Pasha

What does rest have to do with it? More than a hundred years have passed, and those who "were tired" during WWI are long dead.

Just like those who blew WWII. But for some reason, everyone is convinced that the Franks will fight exactly like in WWII, not WWI.

Quote: Vadim Topal-Pasha

However, this did not help, and now the most popular and widely used name for newborns is Muhammad.

Actually - Gabriel

[Vadim Topal Pasha]

AI agrees with you. But I fundamentally disagree with AI on a lot of issues. Just today I caught "Alice" in her slander several times.

[bayard]

Quote: Andrey from Chelyabinsk

During WWI they fought like crazy and stood there until the melting point,

Well, yes, they retreated to Paris, until the Russian Army, still mobilized, rushed into East Prussia "to save Paris." And paid for its zeal, "but Paris was saved." And then the French Rothschilds demanded that the Tsar send Russian troops to defend Paris. For debts. Not for debt forgiveness, but merely for a deferment of payments until the end of the war. And Russian troops set off again... to save Paris. And they fought there until the very end of WWI. Until the thaw.
Do you remember how the French newspapers wrote about this back then?
That "our French youths are smart and talented, they are artists, musicians... and in the Russian Army there are simple men, so let them fight for us." And they fought. God punished Russia with such a tsar.

Quote: Andrey from Chelyabinsk

when some army went home.

Was it when our allies staged the February Revolution in February 1917?
After British MI6 agents killed Rasputin? The only Russian man the Tsar ever listened to? The one who stopped him from doing anything stupid in time. He could have stopped that war for Russia, but he wasn't in the capital at the time, and a spy tried to stab him. He survived. But he didn't manage to stop the war.
And how is it that Russian troops are fighting for Paris, while at the same time English and French spies are organizing a coup in Russia, destroying the fighting army and effectively withdrawing Russia from the war... and you admire them? How do you manage this?
"It's not true, they're not like that"?
Such. By that time, the German army was already running out of steam, while the French and British, on the contrary, had run out of supplies and reserves. They could now win on their own. But they absolutely did not want to hand over the Black Sea straits to Russia for the bloodshed. The Dardanelles operation was being prepared at full speed; it could not be allowed to happen. And the general offensive in the spring of 1917 promised to wipe out the German eastern front. It was time to remove the "useful idiot" (Nikolai No. 2) from the throne and start a revolution, simply to put their own agents in charge.

Quote: Andrey from Chelyabinsk

That's why WWII didn't take part - they were exhausted and didn't want any more war.

The dear ones are exhausted from fighting the war... But the Germans are not exhausted. And they started WW1. And the Russians are not exhausted, although in addition to WWI they also fought the terrible Civil War. And even the British, albeit in a haphazard manner, fought WW1. But the French nezhinki are exhausted. Even after a new generation, they still haven’t had a rest in 20 years of peace. They fought until the thaw. Like heroes. When the Russians are on the main direction of their front, of course it’s possible. After all, Russian soldiers are men, and they are fighting for the Tsar’s debts. But the French soldiers... were exhausted. That’s why they immediately surrendered to the Germans. Only de Gaulle fought, resisted, but what could he do with his division? If the French are exhausted. Until the thaw.
But once they surrendered, they happily went to the front with the USSR as volunteers. France provided several hundred thousand volunteers, almost as many as Poland (500), and the SS Charlemagne Division defended the Reichstag in Berlin to the end. They stood to the death – until the thaw. True heroes... as Kolya from Urengoy would say.

Quote: Andrey from Chelyabinsk

Now we've had some rest...

We had a good rest and gave birth to offspring. Look at the Macron we gave birth to. Now he will definitely stand until the end. Until he thaws.

[Andrei from Chelyabinsk]

Quote: bayard

Well, yes, we retreated to Paris.

It's a different story with us, we stopped the Germans right at the border in WWII... Right? :))))

Quote: bayard

And then the French Rothschilds demanded that the Tsar send Russian troops to defend Paris.

The USSR, on the other hand, never once demanded that its allies enter the war on the Soviet side. And it never once reproached anyone for the lack of a second front. It did everything itself... And the Normandie-Niemen probably fought somewhere in Africa...

Quote: bayard

The hearts are exhausted from fighting the war

Yes. Can you imagine, they lost more soldiers killed per thousand people in WWI, according to various estimates, than the Russian Empire. Only five to seven times less. We, with a population of 175 million, lost 2,2 million soldiers, while in France, it's approximately 1,3-1,4 million out of 41,2 million. Incidentally, the Germans also lost fewer soldiers per 1000 people than the French.
In short, you may like it or not, but the fact is that France suffered far more bloodshed on the battlefields during WWI than during the Russian Empire, many times over. And they held out to the end and won. And then, yes, they said "never again" and gave up on WWI. But that won't change their resilience in WWI.

[bayard]

Quote: Andrey from Chelyabinsk

It's a different story with us, we stopped the Germans right at the border in WWII... Right? :))))

And in 1941 we retreated. And the reasons were the same - the Germans fought better. In '41 and '42.

Quote: Andrey from Chelyabinsk

The USSR was a different matter - it never once demanded that its allies enter the war on the Soviet side.

And the USSR demanded it. I emphasize that our little tsar readily sent troops "to defend Paris," and even got himself into the war to save Paris. But Russia had no business being involved in that war—no interests, no gains. They could have calmly built the fleet for another two or three years, and quietly and slowly mobilized under the pretext of "the war is in Europe after all." They could have let the Germans beat the French and gotten what England wanted at sea, and the US would have entered the war earlier, saving the Anglo-Franks. And the French would have fought until the last straw, and we would have been selling them grain through the Bosphorus. But the idiot on the throne got himself into an unnecessary war, sent troops to defend the French, and his allies, using their agents, overthrew him when they realized they could win without Russia. And in England they did not accept the royal family, but decided that they would be more comfortable in the "Ipatiev House".

Quote: Andrey from Chelyabinsk

And the Normandie-Niemen probably fought somewhere in Africa...

It was just a squadron, which later became a regiment. In which all the aircraft technicians were Russian, and all the supplies were ours. A group of volunteers simply flew in. We had those in Donbass too. And from France, and from Germany, and from the USA, and even their Uganda.

Quote: Andrey from Chelyabinsk

Can you imagine, they lost more people killed per thousand in WWI, according to various estimates, than the Russian Empire. Only 5-7 times more.

So they fought the entire war on their own territory, they had nowhere to go. We also fought most of the war on our own territory during WWII, which is why our losses were so high (around 20 million civilians and 7,5 million military personnel).

Quote: Andrey from Chelyabinsk

We have 2,2 million fallen soldiers out of a population of 175 million, while in France it is approximately 1,3-1,4 million out of 41,2 million.

And this is for four years of war? Less than one and a half million? They played tag there for four years?
And we have a whopping 2,2 million on the secondary front out of idleness. For Ferdinand, the Serbs, and Paris. And I'm talking again about the cognitive and moral parameters of the last tsar of the Romanov dynasty. How he cared about the state and the people.

Quote: Andrey from Chelyabinsk

By the way, the Germans also have less per 1000 population than the Franks.

The Germans weren't just fighting the Franks; they also had us and the British, plus a few other minor ones. But the French were the only ones who broke down morally and ethically.

Quote: Andrey from Chelyabinsk

You may like it or not, but the fact is that France suffered more bloodshed on the battlefields during WWI than during the Russian Empire, many times over.

The Russian Empire didn't even fight on its own territory. Galicia (Austrian), Poland, and the Baltics—those were our battlefields of that war. Well, we also had to save the Romanians.

Quote: Andrey from Chelyabinsk

then - yes, they said "never again" and leaked WWII.

Yes, all the Euro-limitrophes were lost, Poland resisted a bit, and the French themselves did a little for appearances' sake. They were against us, but fighting for the Germans was much more fun; look how many allies and volunteers they found.

Quote: Andrey from Chelyabinsk

But this will not cancel out their resilience in WWI.

In WWI, yes, we had to fight. And the Russian troops near Paris were not the Normandy squadron (later regiment) we had in WWII.

Quote: Andrey from Chelyabinsk

They stood firm until the end and won.

If the US hadn't entered the war, there's no way they would have won. They overturned Russia with coups, thinking they could handle it themselves. But no, after the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, the Germans turned their full forces westward and were already inflicting final defeat on the French, but the US came to the rescue – as the main beneficiary and victor. And although the French ended up among the victors, they were essentially simply saved. Throughout the war, someone saved them. In 1914 and throughout the war until spring and summer, it was the Russians, holding a huge front and half of all German and Austrian troops. After the defeat in 1918, it was the Americans.
And what about you?
And they themselves lost only 1,3-1,4 million soldiers (or was that including civilians?) during the entire war. And they were so horrified by this that they decided to surrender immediately if they had to fight a strong enemy in the future.
That's how they'll fight if it happens again. If not through sabotage and conspiracies, not with proxies on foreign soil, but actually on their own. This is already a national mentality. They still have anger and nastiness, but they have no resilience, courage, or ability to show "long willpower." Even the Bundeswehr has long ceased to be the Wehrmacht, let alone these others.

[rocket757]

Against modern A2/AD systems (air defense and electronic warfare layers) deployed by Russia and China, it is necessary to use inexpensive UAVs, decoys, and remotely controlled munitions that will absorb the enemy's main fire, and only then will manned fighters take over.

Do they have plans to attack and survive?
Or are their military analysts such fantasists who... why do they "fantasize" like that?

[Tusv]

I don't understand the French. They invested in developing the luxurious Penguins and are crying over the lack of expensive Rafales. And how are they supposed to close the air wings for two Indian aircraft?

[Vadim Topal Pasha]

What kind of Penguins are these? Can you share the link?

[Tusv]

Well, how can I tell you? The Soviet Union abolished exile and penal servitude with its first decree. And according to Penguin, there's a sea of ​​exiles. There's A, B, and C.

[faiver]

cancelled by the first decree

- Yeah, and then I took it into service....

[Tusv]

What type of Penguin is in service with the Marine Corps?
If you answer correctly, I'll let you breathe in my direction.

[faiver]

Has the permit increased?

[Tusv]

And what about yours? My permission slip, answer the request, and fly like a blue falcon.

[Vadim Topal Pasha]

Well, give me just one from that ocean specifically for this French penguin. Otherwise, there are a lot of penguins. The AI ​​is getting lost.

[solar]

Invested in the development of luxury Penguins

Which ones? They have nothing to do with the F-35 program, by the way.

[Tusv]

They certainly did. Or isn't France NATO? Doesn't everyone know better?

[solar]

They certainly fit in.

No way. They had their own project.

Or is France not NATO?

NATO. But the F-35 project is not a NATO project. It's an American project with the participation of individual countries. Some of them are NATO members, but not all. Some are not NATO members, such as Israel.

[vitaliy20091959]

Regarding the video, our TV magazine "I Serve the Soviet Union" showed it just as well.