PARIS: France and the United Arab Emirates have revived plans to jointly develop an upgraded Rafale fighter jet, the F5 standard, after talks stumbled earlier this year, officials told Reuters in a report published on 23 October. The Rafale F5 jet project, for which France’s 2027 draft budget earmarks 3 billion euros ($3.36 billion), has returned to the agenda after France-Germany plans for a next-generation fighter collapsed earlier this year.
President Emmanuel Macron travelled to the region this week and agreed with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan to deepen the strategic defence agreement between the two countries. Macron said they had signed “an important agreement… to establish a common strategy for the Rafale’s fifth generation.”
Rafale F5 jet talks return after stalling
The Rafale F5 jet programme is meant to keep the French fighter relevant into the 2040s. The UAE is France’s biggest Rafale customer, having ordered 80 Rafale F4 jets in 2021, with deliveries expected toward the end of 2026. La Tribune reported in April that the F5 programme cost had reached 5 billion euros, with the UAE expected to fund roughly two-thirds of it.
Earlier talks had stalled over Abu Dhabi’s request for access to sensitive French defence technology, including advanced optronics for its EDGE Group. The financing and technology-transfer terms of the revived deal remain undisclosed.
Why the Rafale F5 jet matters to France
France faces large budget deficits and rising debt, making the Emirati partnership vital to ease pressure on the defence budget while preserving industrial capability. Developing a new fighter generation alone would strain public finances, and sharing the cost with Abu Dhabi lets Paris keep its aerospace industry working on the Rafale F5 jet without carrying the full bill.
The collapse of the Franco-German next-generation fighter project earlier this year left France looking for partners. The revived UAE deal fills that gap and gives the programme a customer committed to buying the upgraded aircraft.
What stalled the talks earlier
The earlier round of talks broke down over technology transfer. Abu Dhabi wanted access to sensitive French defence technology, including advanced optronics for its EDGE Group, the UAE’s state defence conglomerate. Paris was reluctant to hand over some of its most closely guarded military technology, and the negotiations stalled.
Officials did not say whether those disagreements have been resolved in the revived agreement. The terms on financing and on how much technology France will share have not been made public.
Macron’s visit and the strategic agreement
Macron’s trip to the region this week produced the agreement to deepen the strategic defence partnership. France has military bases in the UAE, and during the current Gulf conflict France sent air defence systems to the Emirates while French warplanes shot down Iranian drones, boosting Paris’s reliability in Abu Dhabi’s eyes.
The UAE’s order of 80 Rafale F4 jets in 2021 was the largest export order in the aircraft’s history. Deliveries of those jets are expected toward the end of 2026, and the F5 upgrade would build on that fleet.
The road ahead for the Rafale F5 jet programme
The Rafale F5 jet programme now has money behind it for the first time, with 3 billion euros earmarked in France’s 2027 draft budget. But the hard negotiations on who pays for what, and how much technology France will share with the UAE, are still ahead. The earlier stall over optronics and EDGE Group access shows how far apart the two sides were only months ago.
For the UAE, the deal secures a path to a more capable version of the jet it is already buying. For France, the Rafale F5 jet keeps the production line and its engineers busy into the next decade. Both sides now need to turn the revived agreement into a signed contract with clear funding and work-share terms.
Safran welcomes the revived plan
Safran CEO Olivier Andries called the agreement “very good news” on Friday. Safran makes the engines for the Rafale, and the company stands to benefit from a long production run of the upgraded jet. Dassault, which builds the Rafale, declined to comment.
The Rafale F5 jet programme now moves into detailed planning, with the 3 billion euros in France’s 2027 draft budget marking the first public commitment of funds.