(Saint-Cloud, France, August 10, 2023) – As part of the contract signed by Indonesia on February 2022 for the acquisition of 42 Rafale, the second tranche of 18 Rafale came into force today.

A senior Defense Ministry official, Taro Yamato, said today that Japan plans to suspend flights of its 14 Ospreys temporarily. A planned training flight in southern Japan was canceled.

“While expanding SAMI’s MRO capabilities is important, the target is to establish joint training activities to develop Saudi talents and transfer skills in the sector,” the Saudi firm’s CEO said.

The Spanish Ministry of Defence said the aircraft will enter service in 2026 — an aggressive timeline considering Airbus only plans to have a prototype in the air by 2025.

“Future combat employment is about kill chains and kill webs, it’s about systems of systems warfare,” and pilot training has to reflect that, Col. Matt Ryan told Breaking Defense.

“What they want to have is a regional standard air-to-air capability that will allow them to deter Israeli air-to-air capability. Right now the only threat Israel has in air operations from Iran is from ground-to-air,” analyst David Des Roches told Breaking Defense.