The Ukrainian Air Force plans to purchase 100 Rafale fighter jets. This was officially announced by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who signed a declaration on November 17 on cooperation with France in the procurement of defense equipment.
At this stage, it is only a preliminary general framework, which also includes air defense systems such as the SAMP/T, along with various aviation weapons. At the same time, if the purchase of a hundred Rafale aircraft is being considered, it is important to understand the potential cost. This includes not only the cost of the fighter jets themselves, but also the cost of their operation.
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The cost of Rafale fighter jets
As previously announced, the plan involves one hundred Rafale jets in the latest F4 variant, scheduled for delivery by 2035. The deadline raises some questions, as the waiting list for Rafale is already nine years long. Most likely, these deadlines can only be met if Dassault accelerates fighter jet production or reorganizes the delivery schedule.
In any case, a purchase of 100 Rafale aircraft at once would come with a very high price tag. The last known price for these aircraft is €225 million. It is known that Serbia purchased 12 Rafale F4 fighters in August 2024, along with weapons, equipment, and other additional services, for €2.7 billion.
An additional relative benchmark for the cost could be India's order for Rafale M for carrier operations in April 2025. Delhi is to pay €7.41 billion for 26 Rafale M aircraft in a comprehensive supply package, at a cost of €285 million per fighter. This is the total price for the carrier-based variant, whereas the initial cost was €254 million per Rafale M.
At the same time, the prices paid by Greece and Croatia in 2020 and 2021 for the Rafale F3R can hardly serve as a benchmark. Specifically, Greece purchased 12 used and six new Rafales for €2.4 billion, while Croatia bought 12 used aircraft for €1.15 billion. In other words, this was the price for used aircraft until 2022, which significantly reshaped global weapons costs.
Therefore, the cost of 100 Rafale F4 fighter jets for Ukraine could realistically reach €22.5 billion for a complete supply package.
The cost of operating a Rafale fighter jet
It should also be noted that the purchase price of a fighter jet represents only a portion of the total expenses. Operating costs begin once the jet enters service, with its lifecycle typically estimated at around 40 years. This parameter is highly debatable and depends on the calculation methodology. In particular, this figure may or may not include the cost of weapons, modernization, upgrades, major repairs, etc., resulting in completely different figures.
According to Aviation Week's 2023 Fighter Aircraft Through Life Costs study, which emphasizes the benefits of Saab's Gripen but provides data for other modern Western fighters, a Rafale flight hour was determined to cost $31,200.
From this figure, $18,000 is allocated to maintenance, with the remaining $13,200 attributed to operational expenses. The study assumed a total life cycle of 38 years, 200 flight hours per year for each aircraft, and a total fleet of 100 fighter jets. At the same time, according to other estimates that do not provide detailed calculation conditions, the Rafale's flight hour cost is between $16,000 and $20,000.
It is often easier to apply the empirical rule, according to which the total cost of a fighter jet, including purchase and forty years of maintenance, is calculated assuming the aircraft's purchase price makes up only one third of the total. In other words, if a Rafale costs €225 million, its maintenance over a 40-year period would total €500 million, or €12.5 million per year.
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