France tried to peddle ‘yesterday’s tech’

France faces potential embarrassment over its Rafale warplane after a US classified document published by the WikiLeaks website said a Gulf Arab leader agreed that it was “yesterday’s technology”.

France faces potential embarrassment over its Rafale warplane after a US classified document published by the WikiLeaks website said a Gulf Arab leader agreed that it was “yesterday’s technology”.

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The remark reportedly came in conversation between Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa and General David Petraeus, who was then in charge of US Central Command, according to a US embassy cable published on the website.

Dassault Aviation, which manufactures the plane, said it had no immediate comment.