PARIS (AFX) - Libya plans to order between 13 and 18 Rafale fighter jets from Dassault Aviation as part of its plans to modernise its army, the Journal du Dimanche said quoting Libyan government sources.
If confirmed the sale would be the first outside France of the fourth-generation Rafale fighter planes.
'The political decision to buy French Rafale fighter planes was taken recently at the highest level of the Libyan state,' the newspaper said, adding that the order was valued at around 2.5 bln eur.
A spokesman for Dassault Aviation said the company is not in any negotiations with the government of Libya. 'This type of dossier is a bilateral matter between the French and Libyan governments,' he said.
Dassault Aviation is majority owned by the Groupe Dassault holding company of businessman Serge Dassault. EADS has a 46.2 pct stake in the company.
For its part, the French defence ministry limited itself to saying that France had signed an accord with Libya at the end of last year to revamp its Mirage F1 fighter jets.
Relations between Libya and the Western powers have warmed dramatically since Kadhafi renounced terrorism and abandoned efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction in late 2003.
That same year Libya also accepted responsibility for the bombing of a US Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 that killed 270 people, and agreed to pay compensation to the families of victims.
And in January 2004, Libya took another step toward mending relations with the West by signing a deal in Paris offering compensation for the bombing of a French airliner over the Sahara in 1989.
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