By JAMES BOXELL
After a decade of delays, the Rafale fighter jet finally entered service with the French air force at the end of last month.
Dominique de Villepin, the French prime minister, was guest of honour as the first squadron of 20 Rafales was "stood up" at the Saint Dizier airbase in north eastern France.
Also at the ceremony was Michele Alliot-Marie, the French defence minister, who described the Rafale as the "most comprehensive and most high-performance" jet fighter aircraft in the world.
The Rafale, expected to cost about Euros 30bn across its lifetime, is seen as a poster child for the French defence industry.
But as well as the delays, the aircraft built by Dassault Aviation has made an inauspicious start in a crucial area: it has failed to win any export orders.
An expected order of 294 aircraft from the French air force and navy is clearly good news for Dassault. But some observers say the fighter project, one of France's biggest military procurements, threatens to monopolise much of the French defence equipment budget.
Dassault executives remain convinced about the quality of their product, which will perform a variety of roles such as air-to-air combat, ground attack, aircraft carrier missions, reconnaissance and nuclear delivery.
They say that once the French air force begins using the aircraft to its full capacity, other countries will be better able to judge the aircraft's merits.
France has notably lost out on export orders to Singapore and South Korea, both times to variants of Boeing's F-15, which has been in operation for decades.
Andrew Brookes, aerospace analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, says the US is offering particularly good deals on existing models such as the F-15 and Lockheed Martin's F-16.
The US Department of Defence is eager to keep production lines for fighters busy as the new F-22 Raptor enters service and in the runup to the launch of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
"They are coming up against the Americans, who are pushing very hard to sell their own products," Mr Brookes says. "Also, a call from (US president) George Bush to the government in Singapore is going to trump one from (French president) Jacques Chirac. If your air force doesn't have much to spend you will go for an F-16 or an F-15."
A Dassault spokesman concedes: "They have advantages we don't have. It is difficult to say no to the US."
The French also look likely to lose out on a large deal with Saudi Arabia to upgrade the kingdom's fleet of fighter jets, despite an intense and public lobbying campaign by Mr Chirac.
At the end of last year, the Saudis signed an agreement of understanding with the UK, which could see them buy 48 Eurofighters, with the option for a further 24. The deal has yet to be completed but, if signed, it will be a blow to the French, who decided against continuing to participate in the Eurofighter project in the early 1980s to develop the Rafale instead.
France was particularly keen for a jet that could be used on aircraft carriers, a function not needed at the time by its former Eurofighter partners in the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Mr Brookes says international politics could play a key part in export competitions between Rafale and the Eurofighter. "If you want to make waves in Europe, then you have Eurofighter batting for Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain."
Charles Edelstenne, chief executive of Dassault Aviation, has said he believes that maybe 12 to 15 air forces around the world will be looking to replace their fighter jet fleets in the near future, leaving plenty of sales opportunities for the Rafale.
But the aircraft will do well to repeat the success of its predecessor, the Mirage.
Francis Tusa, editor of the London-based newsletter Defence Analysis, estimates that Dassault has exported 286 of the popular Mirage aircraft, equivalent to 90 per cent of the 315 ordered by the French military.
So far the French air force has ordered 82 Rafales, while the navy has ordered 38 to be flown from the Charles de Gaulle carrier.
French air force chiefs remain committed to the full order of 294 jets, but the political climate in France could change drastically with next year's presidential elections.
The company is currently developing a more advanced radar system for the aircraft to make it more appealing internationally, but this has been at the expense of a delay in delivery.
Executives reject suggestions that the fighter, at Euros 50m, is too expensive for many air forces, and insist that it compares favourably with the Eurofighter on performance.
But with international competition likely to remain fierce, and Russia's SU-30s also to the fore, the first export deal will be critical.
