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The Taiwan Mirage affair involved an arms deal signed in 1992, in which Dassault Aviation, missile manufacturer Matra (later MBDA), Thomson-CSF (later Thales) and Snecma (later Safran Aircraft Engines) would supply 60 Mirage 2000 fighter jets armed with MICA missiles to the Republic of China Air Force in Taiwan.
French judge Renaud Van Ruymbeke started investigating the affair in 2000 along with another inquiry about the Taiwan frigate scandal. [1]
In September 2004, Serge Dassault put pressure on the editors of the newspaper Le Figaro , which he owns through Socpresse, not to publish an interview with Andrew Wang , the main arms dealer involved. [2] [3] The interview was eventually published in the newsmagazine Le Point in September 2004.
In 2017, the Permanent Court of Arbitration ordered Dassault Aviation, Thales, Safran, and MBDA to pay the sum of 226 million euros to Taiwan for the commissions they paid against the contractual provisions of the arms deal . [4] [5]
Le Figaro is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in a play by polymath Beaumarchais (1732–1799); one of his lines became the paper's motto: "Without the freedom to criticise, there is no flattering praise".
Dassault Aviation SA is a French manufacturer of military aircraft and business jets. It was founded in 1929 by Marcel Bloch as Société des Avions Marcel Bloch or "MB". After World War II, Marcel Bloch changed his name to Marcel Dassault, and the name of the company was changed to Avions Marcel Dassault on 20 January 1947.
Thales Group is a French multinational company that designs, develops and manufactures electrical systems as well as devices and equipment for the aerospace, defence, transportation and security sectors. The company is headquartered in Paris' business district, La Défense, and its stock is listed on the Euronext Paris.
The Storm Shadow is a Franco-British low-observable, long-range air-launched cruise missile developed since 1994 by Matra and British Aerospace, and now manufactured by MBDA. "Storm Shadow" is the weapon's British name; in France it is called SCALP-EG. The missile is based on the French-developed Apache anti-runway cruise missile, but differs in that it carries a unitary warhead instead of cluster munitions.
The Dassault Mirage 2000 is a French multirole, single-engine, delta wing, fourth-generation jet fighter manufactured by Dassault Aviation. It was designed in the late 1970s as a lightweight fighter to replace the Mirage III for the French Air Force. The Mirage 2000 evolved into a multirole aircraft with several variants developed, with sales to a number of nations. It was later developed into the Mirage 2000N and 2000D strike variants, the improved Mirage 2000-5, and several export variants. Over 600 aircraft were built and it has been in service with nine nations.
The Exocet is a French-built anti-ship missile whose various versions can be launched from surface vessels, submarines, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.
The MICA is a French anti-air multi-target, all weather, fire-and-forget short and medium-range missile system manufactured by MBDA France. Its name is an abbreviation of Missile d'Interception, de Combat et d'Auto-défense. It is intended for use both by air platforms as individual missiles as well as ground units and ships, which can be equipped with the rapid fire MICA Vertical Launch System. It is fitted with a thrust vector control (TVC) system. It was developed from 1982 onward by Matra. The first trials occurred in 1991, and the missile was commissioned in 1996 to equip the Rafale and Mirage 2000. It is a replacement for both the Super 530 in the interception role and the Magic II in the dogfighting role.
The Future Combat Air System (FCAS), is a European combat system of systems under development by Dassault Aviation, Airbus and Indra Sistemas. The FCAS will consist of a Next-Generation Weapon System (NGWS) as well as other air assets in the future operational battlespace. The NGWS's components will be remote carrier vehicles as well as a New Generation Fighter (NGF) - a sixth-generation jet fighter that by around 2045 will replace current France's Rafales, Germany's Typhoons and Spain's EF-18 Hornets.
The Dassault nEUROn is an experimental unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) being developed with international cooperation, led by the French company Dassault Aviation. Countries involved in this project include France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. The design goal is to create a stealthy, autonomous UAV that can function in medium-to-high threat combat zones.
The R.550 Magic is a short-range air-to-air missile designed in 1965 by French company Matra to compete with the American AIM-9 Sidewinder, and it was made backwards compatible with the Sidewinder launch hardware.
The Armement Air-Sol Modulaire, commonly called AASMHammer, is a French, all-weather, smart air-to-surface stand-off weapon developed by Safran Electronics & Defense. Meant for both close air support and deep strike missions, the AASM is highly modular.
The United Arab Emirates Air Force (UAEAF) is the air force of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), part of the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces. Its predecessor was established in 1968, when the Emirates were still under British rule. Since then, it has undergone a continual reorganisation and expansion in terms of both capability and numbers of aircraft. Currently, the UAEAF has around 4,000 personnel and operates approximately 552 fixed wing and rotorcraft.
The Dassault Rafale is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. Equipped with a wide range of weapons, the Rafale is intended to perform air supremacy, interdiction, aerial reconnaissance, ground support, in-depth strike, anti-ship strike and nuclear deterrence missions. It is referred to as an "omnirole" 4.5th generation aircraft by Dassault.
The Groupement des industries françaises aéronautiques et spatiales is the French Aerospace Industries Association created in 1908, featuring more than 420 members. The first name of the association was Association des Industries de la Locomotion Aérienne. It acquired its current name in 1975.
The Strategic Air Forces (FAS) is a command of the French Air and Space Force. It was created on January 14, 1964, and directs France's nuclear bombardment force.
Florence Parly is a French politician who served as Minister of the Armed Forces under President Emmanuel Macron from 2017 to 2022. A former member of the Socialist Party (PS), she previously served as Secretary of State for the Budget from 2000 to 2002 under President Jacques Chirac.
Marwan Lahoud, born March 6, 1966, in Lebanon, is a naturalized French-Lebanese weapons engineer, living in France. He was deputy chief executive officer for strategy and marketing for the Airbus group until February 2017. In May 2017, he was appointed chairman of the supervisory board of OT-Morpho, a position he only held for a short time, even if he remained director for two years of different entities of this group, renamed from IDEMIA.
Dassault Mirage III Australian procurement was a transaction between the French and Australian governments which led to the procurement of the French designed delta wing jet aircraft, the Mirage III, for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). In the late 1950s the Australian government announced its intention to modernize its air force with state of the art technology. The French manufacturing company Dassault won the bid over the American Lockheed when the Australian government agreed to buy over 100 Mirages at an estimated cost of AUS$193.7 million in the early 1960s.
Linternaute.com is a major French news site, launched in 2000. As of November 2020, it was the 99th most visited website in France.
Groupe Figaro is a French media conglomerate owned by Dassault Group. The company contains some of the core assets of the now extinguished Socpresse that Dassault purchased in 2006. Dassault renamed its press holdings as "Groupe Figaro" in 2011.