Dassault Rafale

History

The Dassault Rafale is the main French fourth-generation multirole fighter. In the 1970s, the French Air Force and Navy realized they needed a new, modern, multi-role fighter to replace their aging fleets. That prompted officials to consider low-risk partnerships with other European countries, including Britain, Italy, Germany (then known as West Germany) and Spain. The program began to develop in the late 1970s, forming a formal partnership. However, the French withdrew from the project in 1984, preferring instead to develop an in-house French solution for existing French needs.

Rafale was already on the Dassault drawing board when developing Dassault Mirage 2000 (detailed elsewhere on this site).

The European consortium ended up with the mighty Eurofighter Typhoon, and Dassault's work resulted in the mighty Dassault Rafale. The prototype's maiden flight took place on July 4, 1986, and it entered service on May 18, 2001 - originally planned for 1996.

Currently the Rafale is only in service with the French Air Force and Navy. India has committed to a deal with France's Rafale fighter jets. The French ordered 180 Rafale aircraft from the original intention of purchasing 286 airframes.

Ninety-one men are currently serving in the French Air Force and forty have been assigned to the Navy.

The twin-engine fighter is equipped with 2 SNECMA M88-2 afterburner turbofan engines, each producing 11,250 lbf dry thrust and up to 17,000 lbf thrust, with afterburners deployed. It has a top speed of Mach 1.8 and has three built-in fuel tanks for a range of 2,000 nautical miles.

The combat radius is 1000 nautical miles. The aircraft has a service ceiling of 50,000 feet and a climb rate of up to 60,000 feet per minute.

The delta wing design popularized by the early successful Dassault Aircraft program was brought back to the Rafale. This time the arrangement is complemented by two small front canards mounted on either side of the cockpit. The addition of these smaller surfaces greatly improves the agility of the overall airframe, which, combined with the already impressive balance of lift and drag created by the overall design. The fuselage material structure uses special composite materials to help the aircraft maintain minimal radar signatures and has a mix of carbon and Kevlar components.

If necessary, titanium and aluminum lithium can also be used in the structure. The aircraft is equipped with a Thales RBE2 radar system, a Thales SPECTRA electronic warfare (EW) system and a Thales/SAGEM-OSF Optronique Secteur frontal infrared (IR) search and track system.

In terms of armament, the Rafale is equipped with a standard internal 30mm GIAT-30/M791 cannon with 125 rounds of ammunition. There are 14 external hardpoints (13 on the Navy model) for carrying air-to-air and air-to-surface weapons, including missiles, precision-guided weapons, duds, fuel tanks, and mission equipment pods (target pods and the likes).

Store up to 20,900 lbs.

While only adopted by France, Egypt, Qatar and (now likely) India, Rafale has already drawn some interest from the governments of Brazil, Canada, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Singapore, Switzerland, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Although it was not entirely successful in any of these tenders, it attracted considerable interest.

Its recent battles have served the product well in its marketing efforts.

In French service, the series is expected to be a front-line mainstay in the 2040s.

The Egyptian government has agreed to receive 24 Rafale multirole fighter jets, with the first deliveries scheduled for 2015. The move marks Egypt as Rafale's first foreign operator as Dassault's talks with India enter a difficult phase.

The total order for India is 36 (the contract was formally agreed in April 2015).

Specification

Basic

Production

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Changes