Less than a week ago we listed in an article the potential future contracts of the Rafale for the year 2023. Among the 6 countries cited, Colombia was then the one which presented the shortest probable deadlines, while the country's air forces had announced that the French aircraft best met their needs against the American F-16V and the JAS- 39 Swedish Gripen E/F, and that the Colombian authorities were to announce the selection of the winner of this competition during the month of January 2023. Since then, things have apparently gotten heated in Bogota. Just a few hours after the publication of this article, the Spanish site infodefensa.com, always reliable and very well informed, particularly in South America, announced that the Rafale had been selected by Bogota, that the Colombian authorities were entering into negotiations with Dassault Aviation, and that a Colombian delegation was expected in France in the days or weeks to come, in order to prepare the implementation of the contract.
It obviously didn't take long for the Colombian and French negotiators to come to an agreement, proof that the French offer was particularly well designed. Indeed, yesterday, December 26, this same site published an article announced that the contract between Colombia and Dassault would be signed this week, before the end of the year. While the overall Colombian order is for 16 aircraft with an envelope of almost $3 billion, the first order, the one to be signed this week, will only relate to 3 or 4 aircraft which will be delivered in 2025, as well as services and associated equipment, such as the simulator, the training of personnel and the adaptation of the aircraft to the needs of the Colombian air force, for an announced amount of 678 million dollars, or 640 m€.
With Rafale, the Colombian air forces will be equipped with the most efficient fighter in the South American theater, and will be able to keep certain turbulent neighbors at bay, in particular the Bolivarian air forces of Venezuela which align around twenty Russian Su-30MK2s alongside as many F -16 A/B and a handful of F-5s. The Bogota decision in favor of Rafale could in this respect make a splash in South America, while the Ecuadorian air forces will have to replace their South African Cheetah Cs (copy of the Mirage III), and Peru will also have to replace its MiG-29s, Su-25 and its dozen Mirage 2000s. The success of Dassault in Colombia, but above all the quality of the offer proposed to the Colombian authorities, could lead these countries to move closer to the French manufacturer in the months and years to come, as much as the 3 countries apply a common strategy on the international scene, having notably signed a trade agreement with the EU in 2013 (Colombia, Peru) joined by Ecuador in 2017.
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