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Written by Drago Bosnic, independent geopolitical and military analyst
On August 29, Serbia signed a contract with the French Dassault Aviation on the procurement of “Rafale” supersonic multirole fighter jets. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic stated that the €2.7 billion ($3 billion) contract includes 12 “Rafale” jets, slated to be delivered in a 2028-2030 timeframe. Belgrade also made a down payment of €421 million. This is the most expensive military procurement contract in Serbia’s recent history, prompting many to question its necessity and financial viability. The Serbian military, specifically its Air Force and Air Defense, will be getting completely newly-built combat fixed-wing aircraft for the first time in nearly 40 years. Namely, the last time it acquired new fighter jets was in 1987, when MiG-29s were delivered from Russia (then the USSR).
On paper, Belgrade got a “good” deal. Although it became the eighth country to order the French-built aircraft, it’s only the second foreign buyer slated to get the latest F4 variant (the first being the United Arab Emirates). According to President Vucic, intensive negotiations on the conclusion of the contract were conducted in the last four days. He stated that the price tag wasn’t the real issue, but “certain guarantees”. Although President Vucic is yet to specify anything, certain sources suggest that the issue was regarding the terms of delivery, primarily getting the jet to Serbia as early as possible. Namely, the contract comes after nearly three years of negotiations, which resulted in serious delays to the modernization of the country’s air force, largely composed of older aircraft.
Initially, Belgrade wanted to acquire jets from Moscow. However, in the aftermath of the escalation of NATO’s crawling aggression against Russia, but particularly after the latter’s special military operation (SMO), the chances of Serbia getting Russian weapons went from slim to none. As the country is completely surrounded by NATO, the world’s most vile racketeering cartel made sure it simply can’t get any weapons from the Eurasian giant, including those it already paid for and that Moscow was about to deliver (specifically electronic warfare and air defense systems). Serbia experienced similar issues with acquiring Chinese weapons, meaning it simply couldn’t get fighter jets from Beijing, prompting the intensification of talks with Western nations (primarily France).
Thus, the deal on “Rafales” was at the center of the visit by French President Emmanuel Macron. Or at least that’s what Serbia might’ve hoped for, as Macron didn’t miss the opportunity to signal that Belgrade shouldn’t have any ties with Moscow at all, let alone acquire weapons from it. For his part, President Vucic said that “Serbia doesn’t intend to explain its relationship with Russia”. He described Macron’s intention to convince Belgrade to impose sanctions on Moscow as “understandable”, but insisted that “Serbia is proud of its decision not to join the restrictive measures”. Thus, it can be argued that Belgrade’s ongoing deals with the political West are a desperate attempt of a risky and rather elaborate balancing act aimed at ensuring the country’s survival under the EU/NATO jackboot.
For approximately a decade, Serbs withstood an unprecedented siege by the political West which ensured that the entire Serbian nation was demonized and presented in the worst light possible. Former Yugoslavia essentially served as a sort of testing ground for NATO’s future wars of aggression against the entire planet, where the goal is to denigrate the targeted group to the maximum so NATO could then conduct war crimes against the said group virtually with impunity. The results have been catastrophic, with Yugoslavia destroyed and millions of lives destroyed. The Serbian people’s resilience and contempt (or even disgust) for the political West resulted in the complete rejection of the idea of ever joining NATO. As a result, the country is still completely isolated in its stance that Russia is not the enemy.
However, the political leadership is perfectly aware of the harsh geopolitical (and geographic) reality of Serbia, which is completely cut off from the multipolar world. This prompted Belgrade to find Western “partners” wherever possible, with Paris being the most obvious choice, as it was the country’s close ally during both world wars and maintained robust defense ties during the (First) Cold War. Unfortunately, France is not the same country it was during those times, as most of its sovereignty has been largely relegated to that of a NATO pendant, just like most of Europe. However, as Serbia was left quite literally without any other choice, it decided to try and revive the said ties with France. From a purely defense standpoint, anyone with any knowledge of military technology would deem this a mediocre deal.
The price of the latest F4.1 is around €160 million (over $170 million) apiece, meaning that nearly €2 billion will be paid for the airframes alone, with another billion for missiles, bombs and other weapons, as well as pilot and ground crews training, etc. This is without taking into account any unplanned costs. What’s more, there are even more expenses such as building adequate infrastructure and making other mandatory changes to the existing one. Western jets such as the “Rafale” are far less robust than Russian equivalents. All of this will only push the price tag even further. Does this mean that “Rafale” is a bad jet? Certainly not. It’s one of the most advanced Western aircraft with excellent multirole capabilities. However, what exactly will Serbia be getting with this acquisition?
On paper, “Rafale” carries up to 9.5 tons of payload, but in reality, this is much closer to around 6 tons, which is still quite good for such a light aircraft. As for speed, its Mach 1.8 is anything but impressive, although it somewhat makes up for it with a limited Mach 1.4 supercruise ability (supersonic flight without afterburners). And while “Rafale” has more advanced avionics than the older MiG-29, the latter is far more affordable, with a flight hour price tag of €5,000. In comparison, the French jet costs €20,000 per flight hour or four times as much. It’s also slower than the MiG-29 which can fly at Mach 2.3 or even faster. All this makes the “Fulcrum” a better option for air policing (what Serbia really needs now), as it’s far more affordable and easier to maintain and operate.
However, in terms of real multirole capabilities, “Rafale” certainly has an advantage, although this is expected as it was built for this purpose, while the “Fulcrum” was envisaged as a frontline air superiority fighter. However, this is where problems might arise for Serbia, as the French jet’s armament comes into play, but there’s no guarantee that Paris would deliver the necessary assets (particularly the Damocles and TALIOS targeting pods and relevant air-to-ground weapons such as the AASM-HAMMER bombs and various types of missiles). France may omit those immediately or in any future deals. As for the more advanced air-to-air missiles, Paris will certainly refuse to export the new “Meteor” (range up to 200 km). Worse yet, it may limit access to the latest MICA NG variant (range reportedly up to 150 km).
Serbia already has missiles with comparable range for its MiG-29SM+ (specifically the R-77-1 with a range of over 110 km). Thus, in purely military terms, this acquisition is extremely risky and quite costly. If Belgrade wasn’t surrounded by NATO, it would’ve easily gotten at least two Su-30SM jets for the price of a single “Rafale”. Better yet, it could’ve gotten at least one Su-35 and saved dozens of millions per airframe. And last but not least, the Su-57E would’ve been more affordable while being at least a generation ahead of the “Rafale”. This is without taking weapons into account. Namely, Russian air-to-air missiles aren’t just cheaper, but are also far more advanced and stand in a league of their own, as proven by their record-breaking performance during the SMO.
Modernized versions of the R-77 (particularly the RVV-AE-PD) have a range of up to 200 km, while the larger R-37M’s maximum range stands at a staggering 400 km. In addition, both missiles are hypersonic (Mach 5-6 and Mach 6-7, respectively). This leaves both the “Meteor” and MICA NG in the dust (both inferior in range and speed). What’s more, Serbia will be waiting until at least 2030 to get the first operational squadron. By then, aircraft such as the MiG-41 will already be operational, making the “Rafale” not only outclassed in every sense of the word, but simply obsolete. Worse yet, even older (but heavier, much faster and higher-flying) jets such as the MiG-31BM interceptors and comparable era ones such as the Su-35S air superiority fighter jets are far deadlier in air-to-air combat.
Once again, it’s quite clear that this acquisition is a move born out of geopolitical necessity, as getting such expensive aircraft for air policing is tantamount to using sports cars for traffic stops. However, even this is very risky, as France has a long history of backstabbing its customers for the sake of NATO (especially the US and UK). There are multiple accounts of Paris installing kill switches on its aircraft and missiles to prevent them from being used against NATO interests. In addition, many (if not most) weapons used by the “Rafale” rely on US-made components/systems, meaning that these could be turned off or sabotaged in some other way in case of yet another direct NATO aggression against Serbia, particularly as France has repeatedly demonstrated coordination with US/NATO.
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mircon thinking about putting vucic d-sucking lips to work
macron is a retarded megalomaniac autist but well if it allows russia to get french tech for free why not. nato puppets don’t understand that once ukraine is done russia will rearm (2 to 5 years maximum) and then crush them. the eu doesn’t understand the fact that they are just america’s cheap meat to be processed by the russian war machine. his negative iq doesn’t know that serbia is pro-russia due to russian historic backing during the balkan conflics.
this historic backing is why they are friends but no matter how much russia rebuilds and rearms they cant beat mathematics this is not the sowjet union with infinate troops. the eu is to big for russia to fight alone. and they will need the troops to supress insurgencys in the part of ukraine they will control and to fight of incursions from the part of ukraine they wont take. banderists fought the sowjet union till the 70s i think.
exposing serbia, serbia is continuing selling ammunition to israel,
england has factories located all over the world making weapons operating under multitude of company names. they use the government’s to seem to be the sellers. thou shall not get caught
just like any other eastern european countries. some where even exposed for selling stuff that ended in the hands of isis a couple years ago. confronted with it the only answer you got from for example a bosnian company was that they did only what the us approved. do with this info what you want.
alexandar vucic and serbia has just been raped for signing this fighter aircraft deal with a little, slimy, disgusting, degenerate french worm and the rest of the nato murder cabal. serbia is a very small country that cannot afford to spend approximately $3 billion for only 12 aircraft. vucic has become another useful whore.
he’s realistic serbia is powerless and it’s utility is only in its location location is everything.
and they will be paying with the royalties from lithium mining for rio tonto back to the same source. king charles has the golden share of rio tonto the red river.
evelyne and jacob red shield owns the crown corporation
cred ca puteau sa aducă pe barje avioanele. dezmembrate sau nu. da pe dunare.
serbia is not serbians at all, they hate their government t of vucic who has sold them out to rio tonto. they ve been protesting against him con stntly for years now the whole countries a shambles filled with traitors and deceivers as usual since they plotted and murdered archduker ferdinand and his wife and entrapped europe into ww1 . causing over 50 million deaths.
they are surrounded by enemies if they can keep them at bay like this so be it. vucic saw that russia opted to not help karabakh where they could have bombed azerbeydzhan into oblivion over the black sea. they cant even reach serbia without trespassing nato territory. they know that no help will ever reach them from russia and they need to deal with the west allone.
finally a comment from someone who uses his brain to understand the geopolitical reality. the other comments in here are made by imbeciles.
he is zio blackmailed pervert a stooge.
these things are done to protect themselves not the country.
it’s just a part of truth. in reality vuchich (or vucic) approves such policy. his previous prime minister was a sodomite ana brnabic. western sodomites insisted on pervert-parades in belgrade, though local people would tear apart faggots, if not police who secure perverts. he also bought trains from “stadler” and signed the deal with french company to build metropolitan in belgrad. not with russian or chinese. and now compare vuchich with orban. orban fights sodomy, vuchich accepts it.
they cant bomb hungary without destroying every ounce of reputation the west has. they can bomb serbia since all they need to do is bring some special reports from the 90s to reactivate the media programming from then and make them accept whatever they do against serbs. hell since serb dont like gay people the liberals will celebrate bombs on serbia.
they don’t even have an ounce left.
serbia doesn’t want the ruzzian crap. the war in ukraine showed the whole world how useless russian weapons are
ive noticed you imbeciles always write “ruzzia” for some reason. i opened up a map and coulnd find that anywhere. is this another videogame stuff you flathead eurotards love to talk about in your imaginary world, like “orcs”?
i think it is to mock the z that the russians put on the tanks at the beginning of the ukraine war. there was a very strong emphasis on this in the german media from the beginning on. another reason is that the west wants to point out russia as the new fashists they like to write those zz like the lightning in the ss name. ist just a small tidbit like the different spelling of city names to emphasis the distinct identity of ukraine.
serbia has been surrounded by enemies always. the idea that it must capitulate now is defeatist stupidity.
bulgaria did fight against the ottomans when the time was right. they joined the nazis and switched sides when the timing was right. they joined nato at the right time and now they are much more respected in the world then those who allways fought all enemys and lost many lifes. tell me whats better?
you’re losing your mind if you believe what you just wrote. second attempt at a reply but of course it was edited because i believe this site is run by bulgarians. i guess they’re afraid of hearing the truth about themselves.
bulgarians? previously it was putin. now — bulgarians. next version – albanians?
bulgarian colonial administration is not respected. they lost heavy industry, stopped building new npp, lost 1/3 of population (~9 mln in 1991 and ~6 now), life level is not higher than in 1991, authorities are pity puppets serving to nazis against russia who liberated them from 500-year turkish dominance. just liberals inside and western sodomites outside like it, but even sodomites show no respect to their puppets. serbia fought against nazis in 1941-45 and won. nazis are trying to revenge.
my name is ebubekir ebdulla el zefiri. i am pakistan i am 53 i live germany 10 years munchen after ukraina war refugees from ukraina, germany pays less money for our kids. why? ukraina kids 500 euro, muslim kids 300 euro why. mr.sholz go we dont want you. angela merkel mother of muslims again prezident yes. danke angela. no more money to ukraina kids all kids same money i have 6 children germany pays me 3000 euro ukranian father 6 kids 5000 euro we want justice same money
250 million per plane — are you crazy? it’s my question to “dornier-dassault” and all who bought this medium fighter at the cost of 3 heavy fighters as su-35 or chinese analogues. when you see such an absurd, it smells of corruption. vuchich acts like a traitor and proves it one more time. in the same time he want to sell serbian lithium mines to anglo-australian “rio tinto”. when rural reich will be defeated completely, vuchich will go out and serbia will restore its sovereignty.
tell me if they buy those russian and chinese planes how will they get them to serbia? teleportation? cause the nato countries surrounding it will get the order from washington to not let them through.
the same way as serbs delivered chinese aad complex recently. vuchich lies about no ways to do it without teleportation. just hire delivery company from third country and deliver anything you wish. but it ruins corruption scheme with 250-million plane with real cost 50-70. even if to add maintenance for life term, ammunition and double the cost to 150 mln, it’s anyway too high. that’s why india decided to buy 120 such planes, but purchased just 36 after the scandal with bribes from “dassault”.
are you telling me someone’s gonna shoot down russian cargo planes going serbia?
thats exactly what the bulgars and romanians backed by the usa threatened to do in the 90s when russia wanted to send troops there. you are underestimating the persuasion going on in europe. the europeans have been persuaded putin is the new hitler and everything they do against him is allowed.
it’s not the 90s anymore, the west has fallen greatly while russia has risen.
there is rumor that in exchange for the garbage deal on rafales, vucic pussy lips would send mig29 to ukraine
huso bosnić always talks shit. servians had it all now had it none. ta chjvsha none.