Following the recent visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to the Uzbek city of Samarkand, French aircraft manufacturer French aircraft manufacturer Dassault may have an unexpected new customer: Uzbekistan is planning to replace its old MiG and Sukhoi fighter aircraft fleet with new Rafale fighters.
Uzbekistan has historically been closely linked to Russia, but has recently moved much closer to the West. This development began several years ago and was accelerated by Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine but has recently been significantly accelerated. It therefore stands to reason that Uzbekistan is now also orienting the modernization of its armed forces towards the West. The planned cooperation with Dassault will involve the procurement of a total of 24 aircraft. The Uzbek air force currently has 38 MiG-29 fighters (twelve of which have been modernized in recent years), 29 Sukhoi Su-27s – which are no longer flying – and 20 Su-25 ground attack aircraft. Some of these – and they are not the best preserved – are already being offered for sale by US companies for sale offered for sale. There are also some Western aircraft in the active inventory, such as C295 cargo aircraft (manufacturer Airbus Defense & Space) and H125M and H215M helicopters, also from Airbus.
Safety requirements could pose a problem for the planned deal: It is questionable whether these can be fulfilled or adhered to with regard to listed technical details when operating modern Western fighter aircraft in countries in the immediate Russian vicinity. Irrespective of this, according to French journalists, Dassault Aviation employees responsible for exports are increasingly flying to Tashkent.
Kazakhstan as a possible additional customer?
Shielding Western defense technology (from the Russians) would probably be an even bigger problem in the case of Kazakhstan. Macron recently visited this Central Asian country and Dassault representatives were also part of the tour group. However, a success for the French aircraft manufacturer in Astana would be an even bigger surprise than in Uzbekistan, even though the Kazakh air force also wants to renew its ageing fighter aircraft fleet. https://militaeraktuell.at/ohne-sicherheit-ist-alles-nichts/ This currently consists of 120 aircraft, mainly Sukhoi 27/30 (37 units) as well as MiG-29s (21) and MiG-31s (20). A priori, however, it is not only the geographical proximity of Astana and Moscow, but also their greater political proximity compared to Uzbekistan, that does not speak in favor of a Western aircraft manufacturer with regard to its other customers. Kazakhstan, for example, is dependent on Russia as a transit country, for example to pump its oil to Germany. And many goods subject to Western sanctions come to Russia via Kazakhstan. The USA has also already called on the resource-rich country not to circumvent Western sanctions. President Kassym-Shomart Tokayev has reiterated several times that his country supports the sanctions packages imposed by the EU and other Western states. Nevertheless, the country has a reputation for remaining loyal to Russia. After all, it was only in January 2022 that Moscow helped to put down a nationwide uprising by sending paratroopers.
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