Dassault Rafale Rafale EM

The Rafale EM is the single-seat Rafale for the Egyptian Air Force, paired with the Rafale DM two-seater. Egypt was the aircraft's first export customer: it ordered a first tranche of 24 aircraft and, later, a second of 30. The Egyptian government aimed for a quick completion of the first deal so that the aircraft could be on display at the inauguration of the Suez Canal expansion in August 2015. To meet that schedule, the first tranche was made up of aircraft taken from the assembly line out of the contingent destined for the French Air Force: they were therefore based on the French F3 standard with certain functions removed, notably nuclear capability and NATO-specific data links. Those aircraft have since been upgraded to the F3-R standard. They are armed with MICA air-to-air missiles and with the export version of the SCALP cruise missile, the Black Shaheen, and, according to the French Wikipedia, their data links would allow them to act as a gateway between aircraft of American and Russian origin and to relay data from surface, air and ground platforms to integrated command-and-control centres.

The first deliveries were two-seaters: the third batch, three aircraft flown from France by Egyptian pilots in April 2017, included the first single-seat Rafale EM delivered to the Egyptian Air Force, and the fourth batch of two more EMs arrived in July 2017. The English Wikipedia's operator table puts the number ordered at 54 and the number delivered at 32 as of 2019. The Egyptian Air Force has shown interest in buying the F4 standard once Dassault prepares it for foreign customers.