Brit, the Rafale is already in service and unquestionably inferior to Typhoon. Clearly, by 2012-15, it will, by any standards, be obsolete! Why would anyone want Rafales by then,, especially when we have more than enough Typhoons to spare? Patently, the whole story is nonsense.
Widger, the whole point of this saga is what we do to replace the GR9 fleet when they finally expire.
It is quite comical, and you have to wonder if anyone (apart from the Mail) took the story seriously. Buy Rafales indeed - the only country that ever wanted Rafales was, er, France!