Key Points and Summary – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed that Kyiv is in negotiations with France to acquire Dassault Rafale fighter jets.
-The Rafale is uniquely attractive to Ukraine because it is an “ITAR-free solution”—built almost entirely with French components, it would not be subject to a U.S. veto.
A French Air and Space Force Rafale C from Mont-de-Marsan, Fighter Regiment 2/30, Normandie-Niémen, receives fuel from a U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker from the 100th Air Refueling Wing, RAF Mildenhall, England, during exercise Atlantic Trident 25 over Finland, June 26, 2025. Atlantic Trident 25 is a recurring multinational training exercise between the U.S., U.K. and France to train in an interoperable environment, refining operational integration and ensuring Allied forces can seamlessly secure the Euro-Atlantic region. Finland hosted this iteration of the training series for the first time. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Christopher Campbell)
A joint test team including the Flight Test Division of the French Directorate General of Armaments (DGA/EV), the French Naval Aeronautics Experimentation Center (CEPA/10S), and the U.S. Navy’s Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23 are leading flight tests that will enable the French fighter jet Dassault Rafale to aerial refuel with naval aviation’s F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler. The tanker qualification partnership paves the way for an extended reach and enhanced interoperability for allied airpower. (U.S. Navy photo by Erik Hildebrandt) Erik_Hildebrandt
-This contrasts sharply with the Swedish Gripen, which uses an American-made engine, and the Eurofighter, which requires approval from four nations.
-However, Zelenskyy confirmed Ukraine is now pursuing “three parallel conversations” (F-16, Gripen, and Rafale), creating a potential “logistical nightmare” of supporting three separate, non-interoperable fighter fleets.
Dassault Rafale: The Best Fighter for Ukraine?
WARSAW, POLAND – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has revealed that negotiations with France are underway to acquire the famous Dassault Rafale fighter aircraft.
The Rafale is presented as the optimal solution for Ukraine, as it is almost entirely free of foreign restrictions because it is built from exclusively French components and subsystems.
The aircraft would be an ITAR-free solution for the Ukrainian Air Force (PSU), but, as there always are in the world of arms exports, there are details that present some complications that should still be considered.
Rafale is presented as an optimal solution in that it is mainly free of, as one Ukrainian defense publication writes, “permits, restrictions, and dependence,” but the reality is not quite so simple.
The chief attractive aspect of Rafale for any foreign buyer indeed is that its configuration consists entirely of French subsystems.
It is unique in this respect compared with other fighter aircraft designed and produced in Europe.
These other European programs lack this kind of what French officials refer to as “technological autonomy.”
Two U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning IIs assigned to the 4th Fighter Squadron, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, and two Dassault Rafales assigned to the 1/4 Gascogne Fighter Squadron, 113 Saint-Dizier-Robinson air base, France, break formation during flight May 18, 2021 over France. The flight was apart of the Atlantic Trident 21 exercise which is a joint, multinational exercise involving service members from the U.S., France and the U.K., and is aimed at enhancing fourth and fifth generation integration, combat readiness and fighting capabilities, through conducting complex air operations in a contested multinational joint force environment. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Alexander Cook)
France’s official agencies and arms export entities decide to authorize a sale to a foreign country almost entirely on their own, without consulting other nations.
In contrast, both the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Swedish Saab JAS 39 Gripen have significant US content or other systems on board, subject to US ITAR restrictions.
Most notably, the Gripen is powered by a Swedish-built version of the General Electric F414 engine – the same powerplant installed in the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
This engine alone is now being discussed as the item that could delay deliveries of the JAS 39E to Ukraine.
Zelenskiy recently announced the intention to purchase up to 150 Swedish jets, but the concern now is that an order of this size would require ramping up production of this engine.
That could create a bottleneck in delivering the aircraft within the requested timeframe.
Advantages of Doing Business with the French Defense Industry
President Zelenskiy noted that a Rafale contract would require negotiation only with France, making the acquisition markedly less complicated.
The Saab Gripen, with the issues surrounding it being powered with an American engine, is one challenge Ukraine would like to avoid.
The Eurofighter is several orders more of a challenge in that a sale to any nation requires approvals from all the original four-nation consortium (UK, Germany, Spain and Italy) member countries.
“Additionally, securing German approval for a sophisticated weapon system to be used against the Russians would be problematic for Ukraine,” said a Polish defense analyst. “Look at the nightmare that Kyiv has gone through trying to acquire the Taurus missile.”
What is not widely discussed is that French industry works under a less rigid arms export regime.
This has advantages for the end user, as there are far fewer chances that spare parts deliveries and other support for it can be curtailed if Paris disagrees with how they are being used.
Another advantage the Rafale enjoys is that most of what goes into the aircraft is also produced in France.
The Rafale proves that, despite conventional wisdom to the contrary, manufacturing all components within one country yields more secure, more easily managed supply chains.
Support of the Rafale is performed by a process that is referred to as “modular maintenance (rapid replacement of replaceable units in line), a contracted MCO (RAVEL) and an integrated Dassault/Thales/Safran industrial loop,” reads a recent review of the program’s servicing network.
The system set up for the Rafale has line teams replace an LRU card or module in just a few minutes, allowing the aircraft to take off again immediately afterward.
Major repairs are performed in workshop facilities.
Both the Thales avionics kit, which includes the RBE2 AESA radar and SPECTRA electronic warfare system, and the Safran M88 engines are kept up and running by a system that ensures “advanced stocks, performance contracts, and condition monitoring,” reads the same review.
Local Conditions
Ukraine’s potential headaches about acquiring the Rafale may be more about the unique nature of French industrial politics.
If a less friendly government comes to power, such combat aircraft can present a significant challenge.
The orientation of who ends up in the Élysée Palace can be unpredictable at times.
A pro-Ukrainian centrist government committed to supporting Kyiv until the day of victory over the Russians is currently in power, which is why the Rafale sale is being considered at this point.
But as some Ukrainian political analysts point out, there are pro-Russian forces on both the Left and the Right that have been gaining popularity at the polls, which is a potential concern for Kyiv.
But another consideration is the program’s sustainability. Ukraine is engaged in building a new air force.
In response to a question from Ukrinform, Zelenskyy said they are conducting “three parallel conversations regarding aircraft — with the Swedes, with the French, and with the Americans.”
This means a modernization plan based on three leading fighter platforms — F-16, Gripen, and Rafale.
All of these jets are very capable and have their own advantages over the other. Still, the headaches of supporting three dissimilar models with three separate logistical networks would overwhelm most nations.
How Ukraine might manage is a mystery yet to be solved.
About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson has thirty-six years of experience analyzing and reporting on foreign weapons systems, defense technologies, and international arms export policy. Johnson is the Director of the Asia Research Centre at the Casimir Pulaski Foundation. He is also a survivor of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He worked for years in the American defense industry as a foreign technology analyst and later as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Departments of the Navy and Air Force, and the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia. In 2022-2023, he won two awards in a row for his defense reporting. He holds a bachelor’s degree from DePauw University and a master’s degree from Miami University in Ohio, specializing in Soviet and Russian studies. He lives in Warsaw.
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