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PARIS --- Having announced on Dec. 22 that it had selected the Dassault Rafale combat aircraft to replace its elderly Kfirs, Colombia may this week sign an initial contract worth about $680 million covering the first three or four aircraft, according to South American media reports.
Colombia plans to order a total of 16 aircraft: 12 single-seaters and four two-seaters, at a cost of $3.2 billion, for which the French will extend a 20-year loan with a grace period of five years, several media reported. Initial deliveries are planned for 2025, which implies that at least part of the order will consist of second-hand aircraft taken from the French Air and Space Force.
La propuesta de los aviones Rafale (franceses) es una de las mejores en precio, eficiencia y operatividad. Una hora de vuelo de un avión Rafale es 30% más barata que la de un K-FIR (estimada en 89 millones de pesos).
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— Presidencia Colombia 🇨🇴 (@infopresidencia) December 22, 2022
In a post on his Twitter account, the Colombian President’s Office said that “the Rafale aircraft proposal is the best option for the country in terms of price, efficiency and operability,” adding that “One flight hour of a Rafale plane is approx. 30% cheaper than that of a Kfir (estimated at 89 million pesos),” or approximately $16,900.
Various South American media report that this initial contract will also cover the integration of Colombia’s systems and weapons, simulators for crew training, training of technical personnel and assistance from the French Air Force and Space. It will be signed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro and a senior executive from the French company, accompanied by diplomatic personnel from the French embassy. Petro, in a series of tweets posted Dec. 22, cautioned that "There are no signed contracts, it is a pre-negotiation! The offer that the Government will study has an estimated cost of up to $15 billion pesos (approx $3.15 billion) and not $26 billion, as has been said erroneously."
Colombia has been mulling the replacement of its Kfirs for several years, and had earlier this year short-listed three aircraft in addition to the Rafale: the Lockheed Martin F-16V Block 70 Viper, which was initially favored by the Colombian Air Force, the Saab Gripen, and second-hand Eurofighter Tranche 1.
F-16V offer too inflexible
While the F-16V initially led the field, it was eliminated during the selection process because the Colombian Air Force concluded that its electronic warfare system is inferior to that of the Israeli-made Kfirs now in service, and Lockheed was not willing to change it. Colombia also considers that its Python 5 air-to-air missiles are better than the versions of Sidewinder offered with the F-16V, but Lockheed refused to integrate the Python and Derby missiles and the Spice laser-guided bombs that the FAC now operates. The US government offered the F-16V with only Sidewinder and AMRAAM air-to-air missiles.
Gripen “second-best at everything”
The FAC also considered that the Gripen did not lead in any capability area, but “came second in everything,” according to a Colombian official quoted by the Argentinian website Pucara. Gripen “is having major integration problems in Brazil with its air-to-air and air-to-surface systems, which are not fully operational, they are in a kind of Beta version,” the official said. Furthermore, because production for Brazil and Sweden has priority, delivery times are very long.
Eurofighter most expensive, complex maintenance
Colombia’s selection board found that the Eurofighter is a very capable aircraft, better than Rafale in some respects, but is very expensive and complex to maintain. The Colombian Air Force wanted to buy Tranche 3 aircraft, but it was offered only Tranche 1 and 2 for immediate delivery. Tranche 3 aircraft had very long delivery times, and financing costs were also higher than for the other competitors.
Rafale unrestricted, shortest delivery times
While Colombia was faced with an American refusal to adapt the F-16V, the high costs of the Eurofighter and the limitations of Gripen, the French marketing team in mid-2022 decided to improve its offer, Pucara reported, and removed end-user restrictions, which also existed on the Gripen and the Eurofighter. In addition, France agreed not only to provide Meteor air-to-air missiles, but also to integrate the Israeli-made Derby and Python 5 missiles and Spice bombs, "making it the most capable of all" the competitors, according to the Infodefensa website.
France also promised it could deliver the first aircraft one year after contract signature -- the shortest delivery time of all the competitors. This is essential because Kfir will be retired at the end of 2023, when they wll be 42 years old and will have served for 30 years in the Colombian Air Force. Their replacement is mandatory as the manufacturer no longer provides support, and spare parts are difficult to obtain.
In fact, the improved Rafale offer solved several of Colombia’s problems. Its electronic warfare capability is customizable, and France will give Colombia access to the software source codes needed to modify it on its own. Rafale will also integrate Colombia’s stock of Israeli-supplied weapons, reducing the need to replace them. Another advantage is that, since it was designed to operate from aircraft carriers, it can operate from short runways, a capability that the Typhoon and the F-16 cannot match. This allows them to operate in places like Tres Esquinas, Grupo Aéreo del Oriente and San Andrés airfields.
Rafale also requires less logistical support and is more versatile to operate. It is also more maneuverable, with a better thrust-to-weight ratio, and in addition has an AESA radar with better coverage than its competitors, according to local media reports.
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