September 21, 200719 yr From Defence Talk France may lose Morocco jet deal to US-paper Reuters | Sep 21, 2007 French corporate and combat jet maker Dassault Aviation may lose out on a deal to sell some Rafale fighter planes to Morocco, French newspaper La Tribune reported. In an article due to be published on Friday, La Tribune said the Moroccan government was set to accept a rival offer to buy F-16 fighter planes made by U.S. company Lockheed Martin Corp. La Tribune, citing its own sources, said Lockheed had offered Morocco 36 F-16 planes for less than $2 billion, while France had offered 18 Rafale planes for 2.3 billion euros ($3.22 billion). Officials at Dassault Aviation could not be reached immediately for comment on the Tribune report. The French government said earlier Thursday that the Rafale was a "good deal," even though it had not found any foreign buyers in eight years and has struggled against rival U.S. planes. "I am not a pilot, but all the experts say is that it is indeed the best plane in the world and on top of that it's very versatile," French President Nicolas Sarkozy's spokesman David Martinon told a weekly news conference. The Dassault family's Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault holding company owns around 50.6 percent of Dassault Aviation's share capital, according to the company's Web site. European aerospace and defence group EADS holds 46 percent of Dassault Aviation, while the public owns 3 percent. Dassault Aviation shares closed up 0.01 percent at 795 euros.
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