"Cos its available now, it works, it can fly from a floating airfield."
If by available now you mean 'French industry can produce 12-14 airframes per year' then I'd read that as 'by the time the contract was placed and airframes delivered, we could have got F35 which we've got far more value in, got far more jobs out of, and will be able to do far more with'.
If we'd ordered Rafale a decade ago then it may have been useful now - today with the timeframe from order to delivery to proper use, it would be better to stick to what we've got planned.