Rafales for Serbia
August 28, 2024
French newspaper La Tribune is reporting that Dassault Aviation has successfully concluded negotiations for the sale of 12 Rafale fighter jets to Serbia. The agreement is expected to be officially confirmed during French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Belgrade on 29-30 August 2024.
The agreement follows two years of negotiations, in which Macron reportedly played a central role.
In April, President Macron declared that Serbia’s future lies “within the European Union … and nowhere else,” and some have interpreted the Rafale deal as being a ‘reward’ for Serbian President Aleksandar Vuƒçiƒá’s commitment to normalizing relations with Kosovo, though tensions between the Balkan neighbours remain high, and the full implementation of the Brussels-Ohrid agreements, aimed at easing tensions between Serbia and Kosovo, remains some way away.
There are also some concerns as to Serbia’s close links with Russia and China. Chinese leader Xi Jinping visited Belgrade in May and China has invested heavily in Serbia’s mining and manufacturing sectors. Serbia remains close to Moscow too, thanks to energy co-operation, a shared Eastern Orthodox religion and mutual opposition to Kosovo’s independence.
The Rafale is sought as a replacement for the dozen or so surviving MiG-29s operated by the 101 Lovacka Avijacijcka Eskadrila (101 Fighter Aviation Squadron) at Batajnica. This would mark a shift from reliance on Russian equipment for the Radno Vazduhoplovstvo i protivvazdušna odbrana (Serbian Air Force and Air Defence).
Neighbouring Croatia received its first six Rafales in April (of 12 on order), while elsewhere in the Balkans, Greece has 18 in service, of 24 on order.
