French President François Hollande, through its cabinet, officially confirmed the sale of Dassault Rafale fighter aircraft today. Paris and Cairo will sign a deal for the sale of 24 of French-made Rafale fighter aircraft on February 16, Le Monde reported on Thursday. The deal will be part of a $6 billion package that also includes a FREMM frigate and MBDA missile systems.

The two sides reached a final agreement on the deal, which is worth $6 bn, earlier on Thursday, although the talks on the sale of the aircraft started last fall during Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi's visit to Paris. French newspaper Le Monde said the final page outlining the modalities would be signed on Monday, February 16, by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and French officials, possibly President Francois Hollande or Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

The deal would make Egypt, which has been looking to upgrade its military hardware on fears the crisis in neighboring Libya could spill over, the first export customer for the French warplane.

Despite exclusive negotiations with India for the last three years, Dassault had until now not found a foreign buyer for its multi-role Rafale, billed to be one of the most effective and sophisticated fighter jets in the world, but also one of the most expensive.

The Dassault Rafale is a twin-engine delta-wing multi-role jet fighter aircraft. Introduced in 2000, the Rafale is being produced both for land-based use with the French Air Force and for carrier-based operations with the French Navy. The Rafale's mission system has the potential to support without any restriction all current and future armaments. The Rafale has been cleared to operate with i.a. the MICA air-to-air missile, the AASM stand-off air-to-ground precision guided weapon, and the Exocet anti-ship missile. Thanks to its two M-88-2 turbofan, the Rafale is able to reach a maximum speed of 1,800 km/h