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RAFALE'S MINI ENCYLOPEDIA FOR IT'S FANBOYZ

best thing about this rafale deal is that we are getting Meteor missiles which is exclusive in this region(neither pakis nor cheenis possess such type of mizziles:yahoo::yahoo::yahoo::yahoo:
 
Thales targeting pod integrated, tested on Rafale fighter
A new laser targeting pod from Thales has been successfully tested aboard a Rafale fighter plane.

By Richard Tomkins | Oct. 17, 2016 at 8:09 AM
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The TALIOS targeting pod mounted onto a Rafale fighter. Photo courtesy Thales


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PARIS, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Thales' new-generation TALIOS laser targeting pod has successfully completed a more than two-hour first flight on a Rafale fighter.

The prototype targeting long-range identification optronic system collected high-quality images taken using the "day" channel, and offered remarkable performances in pointing and telemetry, Thales said.

"TALIOS is the first optronic targeting pod to cover the entire decision chain, from intelligence gathering through to neutralization," the company said in an announcement. "With the latest-generation high-resolution infrared and electro-optical sensors, line-of-sight stabilization, and high performance image processing, its capabilities range from deep strike with precision-guided munition, to air-to-air target identification and close air support, both during the day and at night."

The TALIOS pod is to be used on French Air Force and Navy Rafales and is a major part of a development program for the fighters.

The TALIOS pod development and Rafale integration programs run in parallel. Adjustment and performance measurement tests will continue throughout next year.
http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Se...rated-tested-on-Rafale-fighter/3311476678448/
 
Rafale going for HX
ON JULY 18, 2018 BY CORPORAL FRISKIN AIR, FINLAND


In a world where the transatlantic link is looking surprisingly shaky, the French charm offensive is continuing. And as some of the competition are fighting delays, cost overruns, and uncertainties, the Rafale is steaming on ahead seamingly without any major hiccups. In the short term, that means rolling out the F3R standard which will sport AGCAS (Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System), introduction of the MBDA Meteor long-range missile, and a host of other less noticeable upgrades to the aircraft. The F3R is an intermediate step, building on the current F3 model. The big step will then be the F4, which is expected in the 2023 to 2025 timespan, coinciding with the deliveries of the first HX-fighters in initial operational capability, which is set to happen in 2025.

If Rafale would win HX, it is the F4 standard which would be delivered to the Finnish Air Force. Dassault is expecting that the French baseline will suit Finland just fine, though they leave the door open for the Finnish aircrafts to have unique weapons and external sensors if so required. Dassault is keen to point out the benefits of this model, making sure the Rafale is sporting mature but modern technologies through incremental upgrades according to the roadmap laid forward by the DGA, the French Directorate General of Armaments.
Everyone can improve technology, but you can’t change the concept […] France can’t operate dedicated aircraft
The benefit from a Finnish viewpoint is that besides the Swedish Air Force JAS 39E Gripen, the French offer will be the only one which will be operated by the host country’s single-aircraft air force (though both the JAS 39C/D and Mirage 2000 will linger on for a few years more). The lack of dedicated fast jets for different roles ensures full support for the multirole capability from the host, something which certainly would make the Finnish Logistics Command sleep easier at night.

One point which Dassault brings up when I meet them at this year’s air show which wasn’t discussed last year is the capability per aircraft. While the ‘how much bang can you create for 10 billions?’-approach of the HX-tender might hand an edge to some contenders, the politically motivated decision to acquire exactly 64 aircraft will on the other hand favour more capable aircraft. This is where Dassault see their strengths. The Rafale is largely assumed to be second only to the F-35 when it comes to signature reduction amongst the HX contenders. At the same time the Rafale is from the outset designed to be able to operate with limited support and low maintenance hours, a feature stemming both from the requirement to be able to operate from the relatively small French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle as well as from replacing the sturdy Jaguar and Mirage F1 in operations in austere conditions, often in Africa and in the Middle East. The latter is in marked contrast to some other contenders, and Dassault likes to point out that this is not just a design concept, but something the aircraft does every day.

When it comes to combat, the keyword is ‘agile’. Rafale is able to adapt to different scenarios and conflict levels, thanks to the multitude of sensors and weapons available to the pilot (and WSO in the case of the Rafale B). These capabilities goes all the way to peacetime, where the Rafale has provided assistance to emergency authorities by documenting natural disasters and floods with their dedicated reconnaissance pods. But while peacetime assistance is a nice bonus, HX will be bought for its combat potential.

And here the Rafale is able to provide serious hours of combat potential, both on a daily basis as well as for prolonged periods of time. The Rafale can do 10 hour CAP-missions, and is able to surge over 150 monthly flight hours per aircraft. The latter has been demonstrated repeatedly during combat operations such as Operation Chammal, the French strikes in Syria and Iraq. The single most high-profile mission in the area is without doubt the strike on Syrian regime chemical warfare installations earlier this year. Here, the Rafale demonstrated the “seamless plug and play” capability of the Rafale to integrate with other NATO-assets to carry out a complex long-range mission. Five Rafales, including two-seaters, flew out of bases in France to strike two facilities at Him Shinshar, one of which was targeted together with US Navy, Royal Air Force, and the French Navy, while the other was struck solely by the Rafales. As was noted in the immediate aftermath of the strikes, they took out all intended targets without interference from neither the Russian nor the Syrian air defences.

Another benefit the Rafale brings to the table is the second engine. While the benefit of twin engines for normal flight safety redundancy is limited these days, in combat the ability to lose an engine and still limp home is an asset. “It’s more comfortable,” as a former Mirage 2000-pilot puts it.

Last time around the Mirage 2000 was the only fighter other than the F/A-18C Hornet to meet the requirements of the Finnish Air Force, but suffered from what the evaluation thought of as a “maintenance system which would be difficult for us”. This is not something Dassault expects will be repeated, as the maintenance requirements for the Rafale is one of the areas which have seen vast improvement. The Rafale feature a fully digital mock-up which has provided the basis for the maintenance studies. These theoretical calculations have then been validated by comparison to an airframe which has been tortured in Dassault’s laboratory. The final outcome is a maintenance program centered around on-condition maintenance rather than the traditional by flight hour system, and a scheduled airframe maintenance which is halved compared to that of the current F/A-18C/D Hornets. While the Rafale is not unique amongst the HX-contenders in taking maintenance to the next level, it is hard to see the aircraft being dropped on what was a weak point for the Mirage 2000.

In the end, talk about the Rafale always comes back to the ‘here and now’. This is an aircraft that is immediately available, ‘fly before you buy’ as Dassault puts it, and keeps balancing nicely on the edge between maturity and cutting edge. The key role it plays in French defence also means that it will continue to be kept updated throughout the lifespan of HX. Like Eurofighter, Dassault is keen to point out that Rafale will also play a part in the Franco-German Future Combat Air System (FCAS), which true to it name is a system and not just a new fighter. The Rafale stands out in many ways from the competition, offering a number of unique solutions and concepts. Time will tell if these will catch the interest of the Finnish Air Force, or if a more conservative solution will be sought.

https://corporalfrisk.com/2018/07/18/rafale-going-for-hx/
 
India's First French-Built Rafale Fighters Have Finally Arrived
Eight years after first being selected, the arrival of the Rafales couldn't come soon enough as China and Pakistan weight heavily on Indian minds.
BY JAMIE HUNTERJULY 30, 2020
  • THE WAR ZONE
  • Five brand-new Indian Air Force Dassault Rafale fighters recently touched down at Ambala Air Force Station in Haryana, India. The aircraft had departed from Dassault Aviation’s Bordeaux-Mérignac facility in France two days prior and made the over 5,000-mile journey supported by French tanker aircraft, with a stop-off at Al Dhafra in the United Arab Emirates.

    The delivery had been planned for May 2020, but it was slightly delayed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Rafales and their seven pilots were greeted by the Indian Air Force chief-of-staff, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria on July 29. Their arrival marked the first new residents for the base since India’s first Jaguar fighter-bombers were delivered there, coincidentally, on a similar date of July 27, 1979.

  • The Rafales are joining No. 17 Squadron “Golden Arrows” Squadron at Ambala. This is the first of at least two planned units that will fly the 36 Rafales that are currently on order as part of a €7.87-billion contract, or around $8.7 billion in U.S. dollars at the time, that was signed in 2016. All 36 aircraft are expected to be delivered by 2022 and they will be equally split with No. 101 “Falcons” Squadron, which will be re-established as the second Indian Rafale unit, based at Hashimara Air Force Station.
  • The Indian Air Force’s Rafales are built as F3-R-standard aircraft, but they come with some fascinating bespoke additions. A Dassault-owned, test-configured Rafale B with Indian-specific modifications started flying at Istres-Le Tubé in France in August 2018. It has progressively carried as many as 14 different Indian Air Force modifications to the baseline F3-R standard aircraft.
  • Indian Rafales feature an improved version of the Thales Front Sector Optronics (FSO) system, which includes SAGEM infra-red search-and-track (IRST). They also feature the Elbit Display and Sight Helmet (DASH), a modified radar altimeter for flying in mountainous terrain, plus a cold start engine capability for high-altitude airfield operations. They also include software modifications for the RBE2 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar.

    A new low-band podded jammer and a towed radar decoy are also being added, according to Angad Singh, an analyst at the Observer Research Foundation, in New Delhi. The additional Indian modifications are being added under a concurrent design, modification, test, and certification schedule. “Everything will be integrated and certified around the time the last jets are ready for delivery [in April 2022]. At which point modification kits will be shipped out and all jets will be brought up to the same specification,” Singh added.
  • The weapons package that accompanies the Rafale procurement includes the MBDA Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM), both infre-red and radar-guided versions of the MICA Multi-Mission Air-to-Air Missiles, and the Scalp long-range cruise missile. Shortly before the delivery of the first five aircraft, it was announced that the Indian Air Force would also procure the Sagem HAMMER (Highly Agile Modular Munition Extended Range), also known as Armement Air-Sol Modulaire (AASM), to meet an urgent operational requirement for the new Rafales amid a serious face-off against China. These weapons would be ideally suited to taking out buried targets in mountainous locations such as Eastern Ladakh.

    The Indian Air Force previously planned to integrate the Rafael SPICE (Smart, Precise Impact, Cost-Effective) weapon on its Rafales in-country. According to Singh this weapon was selected on cost grounds, however, the pressing requirement has resulted in the Air Force opting for a ready-baked solution for the Rafale in HAMMER.

    The Rafale F3 variant is now France's primary nuclear-capable combat aircraft. The Indian Rafales are rumored to be similarly capable, but India has never confirmed if that capability exists in any of its fighter aircraft.


  • The arrival of the first Rafales was met with huge public interest amid public outcry over spikes in tension with Pakistan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a hard line against Pakistan, with recent aerial skirmishes being leveraged to support the Rafale procurement. Modi himself said that Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman’s February 2019 shoot down when he was at the controls of an upgraded MiG-21 Bison would not have happened had he been flying a Rafale.

    India’s long-running fighter procurement saga started under the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) program, which dates back to 2004. The protracted effort has been run alongside the indigenous Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project, which is a light strike fighter built by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). The Tejas is now entering service with a pair of squadrons after significant development delays.

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    DASSAULT/G. GOSSET
    A concurrent development program will see India's 36 Rafales fully capable by 2022.

    India’s MMRCA project was set against the replacement of its aging MiG-21 Bisons and MiG-27s, the latter of which was retired at the end of 2019. An initial competition included the Rafale, along with the Eurofighter, Gripen, F-16, MiG-35, and Super Hornet. India shortlisted the Rafale and the Eurofighter in April 2011, and after a long and exhaustive evaluation process, the French fighter was declared the winner on January 31 the following year. MMRCA was set as a 126-aircraft requirement, and it mandated that 108 jets should be built locally by HAL.

    However, after several rounds of negotiations, the MMRCA program broke down in April 2015. Instead, India said it would purchase 36 Rafales under a government-to-government contract, but with no local production. A contract for 36 Rafales was signed in New Delhi on September 23, 2016, and it included a possible follow-on sale of 36 additional aircraft. The initial batch includes 28 single-seat Rafale EH models and eight two-seat DHs.

    France has proved a reliable partner for India, having participated in a number of fighter projects, including the supply of Mirage 2000 fighters. Dassault is also currently supporting a comprehensive upgrade effort for India’s Mirages.

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    DASSAULT/G. GOSSET
    A two-seat Indian Rafale DH.

    First Indian Rafale to fly was DH serial RB008, which made its maiden flight on October 30, 2018, from Bordeaux-Mérignac. This aircraft is supporting the test and certification of the India-specific enhancements. Rafale DH serial RB001 followed by making its first flight at Mérignac on July 17, 2019. This two-seater was formally handed over to the Indian government on October 8, 2019, at an event hosted by Dassault chairman and CEO Eric Trappier with guests including India’s defense minister Shri Rajnath Singh.

    With MMRCA abandoned and at least 36 Rafales on order, India has now launched yet another fighter tender. On April 6, 2018, it issued a Request for Information (RFI) for “approximately 110 aircraft,” roughly one quarter of which it said should be two-seaters. New Delhi specified that no more than 15% of the jets would be manufactured by the winning manufacturer, with the balance being built locally under the “Make in India” initiative.

    The key points of the RFI include an openness for single and twin-engine jets, a requirement for air superiority missions at 20,000ft (6,096m), low-level ingress, strike and egress at 492ft [150m]) and anti-shipping capabilities have been mandated. In addition to an option for more Rafales, Boeing is set to offer either the Advanced F-15 or Block III Super Hornet, with Lockheed Martin touting a tailored F-16 design dubbed the F-21. In addition are the Eurofighter Typhoon, the Saab JAS 39 Gripen E, the MiG-35 “Fulcrum,” and the Su-35 “Flanker.”

    https%3A%2F%2Fs3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fthe-drive-cms-content-staging%2Fmessage-editor%252F1596135502146-tanker.jpg

    INDIAN AIR FORCE
    A Rafale EH receives fuel during the transit flight to France France to India.

    The Indian Navy too is searching for a new fighter now that the naval variant of HAL’s LCA has been deemed unsuitable for carrier operations. The Navy says it wants a powerful twin-engine fighter that would ultimately replace its MiG-29Ks. This puts both the Rafale and the Super Hornet squarely in the running, with eyes on potential synergies with the Indian Air Force’s new fighters.

    The reaction to the first Rafales arriving at Ambala speaks volumes about a national perspective on the pressing need to recapitalize an ageing fighter fleet of MiG-21s, which is set against the backdrop of pressure from both China and Pakistan.

    The arrival of five fighters is just the first stage of a potentially huge influx of new fighters to India, which will operate from both land and sea, in the years to come. With a host of exotic optional extras added to its Rafales by the spring of 2022, the French replacement for tired Russian MiGs is shaping up to be very impressive indeed.

    Contact the author: Jamie@thedrive.com
  • https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...ch-built-rafale-fighters-have-finally-arrived
 
Rafales Can Give Big Advantage In Tibet In Aerial Combat: Ex-Air Force Chief
Mr Dhanoa, known as the architect of the Balakot strikes, said the Rafale jets along with S-400 missile systems will give the Indian Air Force a major combat edge in the entire region.
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New Delhi:

The Rafale aircraft will give India a strategic advantage in case of any aerial combat with China in the mountainous Tibet region as the fleet will be able to use the terrain to its advantage, destroy enemy air defence and incapacitate the surface-to-air missiles, former Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal (retd) BS Dhanoa said on Sunday.

Mr Dhanoa, known as the architect of the Balakot strikes, said the Rafale jets along with S-400 missile systems will give the Indian Air Force a major combat edge in the entire region and that India's adversaries will think twice before starting a war.

In case of Pakistan, he said the purpose of the S-400 and Rafale is to hit Pakistani aircraft inside Pakistani air space and not when they come inside Indian territory, adding the neighbouring country would not have responded on February 27 last year to the Balakot air strikes if India had the French-manufactured jets then.

In an interview to PTI, Mr Dhanoa said the Rafale, with its fantastic electronic warfare suite and maneuverability, will be able use mountainous terrain in Tibet to its advantage and blind the enemy before India's strike aircraft penetrate hostile airspace to carry out their missions
.
The former Chief of Air Staff also said that the Rafales being supplied to the IAF are much more advanced than the ones being used by the French Air Force as India had asked for something "more" due to requirement to operate in unique conditions like operations from Leh.

Five Rafale jets out of 36 arrived India last week at a time India is in the midst of a bitter border row with China in the high altitude eastern Ladakh region.

"Rafale has got a fantastic Electronic Warfare (EW) suite (SPECTRA), fantastic weapons and therefore are capable of protecting themselves electronically besides being able to use the terrain to their advantage," Mr Dhanoa said.

"So they (Rafales) can play an important role in doing DEAD (Destruction of Enemy Air Defence) on the Surface-to-Air Missiles that the Chinese have put on Tibet.


"Once you take out those surface to air missiles then other aircraft like Su30, Jaguars, even Mig 21s can go out and drop the bombs on the Chinese forces. The strike aircraft carrying bombs can put tonnes and tonnes of bombs on the enemy troops, freely carrying out their mission. But if you do not do DEAD then you will suffer a lot of casualties," he said.

The leading air forces globally carry out Suppression of Enemy Air Defence (SEAD) or DEAD using their top of the line aircraft or weapons before launching any major operation in hostile territories.

"Against China there are big Himalayan mountains in between us which create serious line of sight issues. You can put a missile with a range of 300-400 kms on the ground in Tibet or in India. But it will only work within the line of sight," he said.

He said the Rafales, with terrain following capability, will give India a major capability enhancement.

"In air combat, the first thing that is important is information dominance, you get information and deny the enemy the information. The key role the Rafales will play in Tibet is information dominance and in case of Pakistan, it is a major deterrent. Of course there will be other roles too," he said.
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/raf...t-in-aerial-combat-ex-air-force-chief-2273005
 
FEATURED
Never Shot Down: How Rafale Jets Have Dominated Skies In Afghanistan, Libya, Mali, Iraq & Syria

Produced by Dassault Aviation, Rafales jets were first delivered to the French Navy in December 2000. The jets were part of ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’ but did not participate in any combat role.


Published

2 hours ago
on

August 4, 2020
By

EurAsian Times Desk
From Afganistan, Libya, Mali, Iraq & Syria, the recently purchased Rafale jets for the Indian Air Force (IAF) have outclassed its enemies everywhere and has never-ever been shot down. The Rafales have been part of multi-operational missions and have proved its operational capabilities and air superiority, consistently across the globe

https://eurasiantimes.com/never-sho...inated-skies-in-afghanistan-libya-iraq-syria/
 
Why IAF is counting on 1 missile on the Rafale fighter to counter China
Media reports claim delivery of the Meteor missile has already started

Web Desk June 30, 2020 16:44 IST
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A Rafale fighter test-firing a Meteor missile | Twitter handle of MBDA

Multiple media agencies have reported in recent days that France has agreed to send "additional" Rafale jets to India even as the first couple of aircraft ordered by the Indian Air Force touch down on July 27. PTI reported on Monday that at least six Rafale jets will arrive in July.

The Print on Monday reported that consignments of weaponry for the Rafale have already begun arriving in India following a request from the Indian Air Force. The Print noted that "These missiles include the beyond-visual range (BVR) air-to-air missile, Meteor, which has the capability to hit targets over 120 km away..."


The Meteor is a radar-guided air-to-air missile like the US-made AIM-120 AMRAAM, which was fired by Pakistani F-16s in the aerial skirmish with India in February last year. At the time, it was reported the Indian Air Force lacked an air-to-air missile that could match the AMRAAM, which is believed to have a range of around 100km.

The common perception is that the Meteor's capability is linked to its long range, which is estimated to be well over 120km. However, this is not the only reason why the Meteor is unique. The US Navy developed an air-to-air missile called the AIM-154 'Phoenix' in the 1960s, which had a range of close to 200km. The Phoenix would become the primary armament of the iconic F-14 Tomcat fighter, the aircraft that featured in the movie Top Gun. However, the Phoenix missile weighed nearly 500kg, which meant it never served on any other aircraft until its retirement at the turn of the century.

The Soviet Union and Russia developed long-range, radar-guided air-to-air missiles like the R-33 and R-37, both of which were carried on the MiG-31 Foxhound interceptor and had ranges varying from 150km to 300km. These Russian weapons, like the Phoenix, were bulky and were not carried by smaller fighters. The Phoenix, R-33 and R-37 were primarily meant to shoot down bombers and surveillance aircraft.

The Meteor missile was developed by a consortium of six European nations: UK, Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Sweden. The project that resulted in the Meteor missile began in the 1990s and was primarily driven by the need to counter the then new generation of highly-agile Russian fighter jets like the MiG-29 and Sukhoi Su-27. The Sukhoi Su-27 is the design from which the Indian Air Force's Su-30MKI fighter is derived. The Su-27 and Su-30 fighters were purchased from Russia by China in the 1990s and the Su-27 has also been adapted into multiple local versions such as the J-11 and J-16. According to media reports, China operates at least 500 units of the Su-27 and its local derivatives.

The Meteor missile's USP is not its range, but its unique propulsion system. The Phoenix, R-33 and AMRAAM all have rocket engines. In such air-to-air missiles, the rocket engine delivers a uniform amount of thrust over certain duration of flight after which the motor burns out. The missile then 'coasts', or glides at high speed, to its target, which it tracks through radar. US defence website The Drive explains the longer the distance a rocket-powered missile has to travel to its target, "the less energy the missile will have for its critical terminal phase of flight, and that is not a good thing". As an air-to-air missile approaches, a target aircraft will engage in steep manoeuvring and deploy countermeasures to confuse the incoming missile.





Interestingly, Su-30MKI fighters of the Indian Air Force were able to dodge the AMRAAM missiles fired by Pakistan’s F-16s last February.

The Meteor missile has a miniature supersonic jet engine, called a ramjet. Explaining the aerodynamic advantage of the Meteor, The Drive notes, "Instead of burning off all its fuel right after launch, it [Meteor] can throttle its engine back during cruise, thus saving fuel. As it approaches its target it can throttle up, eventually making its terminal attack while at its highest possible energy state, around mach 4.5, even when fired over long ranges." This helps the Meteor missile engage rapidly manoeuvring targets like China's Su-30 and J-11 jets.


MBDA, the pan-European consortium that builds the Meteor, claims the weapon has the "largest no-escape zone of any air-to-air missile". No-escape zone is the zone in which an aircraft cannot rely on mere agility to evade a incoming missile. Former Indian Air Force chief A.Y. Tipnis estimates the NEZ of the Meteor "is thrice that of the current AIM-120 AMRAAM missile". A major advantage of the Meteor is that its relatively low weight of 190kg means a single Rafale can carry four or more missiles at a time.

The Meteor first entered service with the Swedish Air Force's fleet of Gripen fighters in 2016 and is being adopted by France for its Rafale fleet and by nations using the Eurofighter jets. The Meteor is also integrated on the US F-35 Lightning stealth fighter. Both Russia and China have been reported to be pursuing research into air-to-air missiles powered by ramjet engines. However, there is little evidence to suggest these countries have inducted such weapons yet.

In 2019, Chinese state-run media reported the country's air force had begun deploying a new air-to-air missile on its fleet of J-11 fighters. The weapon, called the PL-15, is estimated to have a range over 200km. The PL-15 employs a rocket motor. Military experts in China and overseas have claimed the primary role of the PL-15 may be to destroy ‘high-value’ targets such as airborne early-warning aircraft and aerial refuelling aircraft.

In a recent research paper, retired Indian Air Force air vice marshal Arjun Subramanian estimated China could have around 1,000 fourth-generation fighter aircraft by 2050. The majority of these are expected to be derivatives of the Su-27 fighter. Hence, the Indian Air Force would be counting on the Meteor missile to retain its tenuous edge in the event of conflict with China.

https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2...ssile-on-rafale-fighter-to-counter-china.html
 
A Look at the F-4 Rafale Upgrade Program

02/19/2019

By Pierre Tran - Paris

French Armed Forces minister Florence Parly announced Jan. 14 the award of a €1.9 billion ($2.2 billion) development contract to upgrade the Rafale fighter jet to an F4 standard, while evoking national sovereignty, operational capability and exports as key factors.

That budget was agreed after close negotiations between government and industry, a source close to the talks said.
“This is a guarantee of our sovereignty,” Parly said on a visit to the Dassault Aviation factory at Mérignac, next to Bordeaux, southwest France.
“This is a chance for our capabilities,” she added.
“It is also a necessary investment to ensure the Rafale’s competitiveness for exports in the coming decades and to safeguard the industrial sector for the fighter jet.”
Parly said she was proud to be the lead advocate for the Rafale in any prospective foreign deal, adding that the upgrade offered further argument in favor of the French fighter.
Dassault, MBDA, Safran and Thales are the four big companies working on the Rafale.

The main modernization features include a connectivity of data links with French and allied forces, greater detection and identification of threats, and fitting upgraded missiles.

A modernization to F4 was in response to the French Air Force’s “evolution of probable threat,” said Etienne Daum, manager for aeronautics, defense and security at think-tank CEIS, based here.
The F4 is important as a a step toward to the Future Combat Air System.

The F-4 upgrade is the first technology package which allows the French fighter to fly in a data network until the planned Next-Generation Fighter flies some time after 2035.

That fighter will be a key element in the FCAS, a European project for a system of systems, which will include a mix of piloted jets, unmanned armed drones and smart weapons.
A Rafale upgrade could be seen as a victory of pragmatism over a cultural stereotype of the French character which is said to favor philosophy.
The upgrades are due to be installed in two phases, with a first batch in 2023, followed by a second in 2025, the Armed Forces ministry said in a statement.
That incremental approach is intended to fit the features as soon as they are available, part of a new defense policy.

“The F4 standard is part of the ongoing process to continuously improve the Rafale in line with technological progress and operating experience feedback,” Dassault said in a statement.

The work will also allow more weapons to be fitted to aircraft, including Mica New Generation air-to-air missile and 1,000-kg AASM powered smart bomb.
Planned upgrades of the ASMP-A airborne nuclear-tipped missile and Scalp cruise weapon will also arm the F4.

France will order a further 30 Rafale in 2023, with delivery of the last 28 of the previous batch due by 2024, Parly said.
Dassault will be industrial architect, the company said.
“We will be responsible for implementing innovative connectivity solutions to optimize the effectiveness of our aircraft in networked combat (new satellite and intra-patrol links, communication server, software defined radio).”
There will be also be upgrades to the active electronically scanned array radar, front sector opto-electronic targeting system, and helmet-mounted display, the company said.
There will a new service contract and a prognosis and diagnostic aid system intended to deliver a predictive capability.
Maintenance will draw on the use of Big Data and artificial intelligence.
A new control unit for the M88 engine will be fitted.
The Spectra electronic warfare system and Talios targeting pod will be boosted, the ministry said.

The Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA), Joint Chiefs of staff and the service wing — Direction de la maintenance aéronautique (DMAé) – worked together to draw up the F4 requirement, seen as essential to maintain French capability with the introduction in Europe of the F-35 joint strike fighter.

France signed a development contract with MBDA for the Mica NG, the company said Nov. 11, 2018.
The weapons is intended to have greater range and sensitivity in sensors,with lower service cost.
 
Last news rumored in France : Greece to acquire French brand new frigates and second hand Rafale in september....
 
ASIA PACIFIC
India Holds Back Its Rafales; Deploys Su-30 MKIs To Counter Chinese Su-30 MKKs & J-Series Jets



The Rafale fighter jets were practicing night flying in the mountainous terrain of Himachal Pradesh so that it will ready if the situation along the LAC deteriorates.

interesting : The report further quoted an expert saying that even though the Chinese PLA has placed their electronic intelligence radars on mountain tops in the occupied Aksai Chin area for a clear line of sight, the war-time signature of Rafale will be different from that in practise mode

Active stealth.....
 
(opex (fr), october 2022)

The TARAMMAA project will enable the Rafale F4 to see even further ahead

The first radar to equip the Rafale in series production and developed by the Thomson-CSF group [now Thales] from a technology developed in the 1970s by the Radant company, the RBE2 [Radar à Balayage Électronique 2 plans] with passive antenna [PESA] was one of the most advanced of its time, not only because, unlike its predecessors, it combined air-to-air detection with terrain-following functions, but also because of its performance, thanks to the fact that it was able to be used in a wide range of applications, not only because, unlike its predecessors, it combined air-to-air detection with terrain-following functions, but also because of its performance, with computers capable of performing up to one billion operations per second, allowing the tracking of forty targets and the simultaneous engagement of eight.

Then, the RBE2 evolved thanks to the contribution of active antennas [AESA, for Active Electronically Scanned Array]. Without going into too much technical detail, such a radar integrates thousands of sensors called TRMs [Transmitter Receiver Modules], which increase both its reliability [thanks to the redundancy of the latter] and its performance, since it is more difficult to detect and less vulnerable to electronic jamming while having an increased detection range, including for targets with a reduced radar signature.

Indeed, according to Thales' description, the RBE2 AESA, which entered service in 2012, can detect and track "a very large number of air targets simultaneously, both downwards and upwards, for close combat and long-range interception of many land or sea targets, in clear or jammed environments and in all weather conditions". In addition, it provides real-time 3D maps for terrain tracking and "high-resolution 2D radar maps of overflown terrain for navigation and target designation". And with the long-range METEOR air-to-air missile, thanks to its extended detection capability, it allows the Rafale to engage targets beyond visual range [BVR].

However, the RBE2 AESA will obviously have a successor. And, as the specialist magazine Air Fan pointed out in its latest issue dedicated to the Rafale F4, the French Defence Procurement Agency [DGA] is working on it, via the "TARAMMAA" scientific and technical project [PST], for Technologies et architecture radar MLU multivoies à antenne active [Technologies and multichannel radar architecture with active antenna], launched as a continuation of the upstream study programmes [PEA] CARAA [Capacités accrues pour le radar RBE2 à antenne active] and MELBAA [Modes et exploitation large bande pour l'antenne active].

This TARAMMAA project focuses on improving the performance of the transceiver modules and on a new software and hardware architecture. Director of the Rafale programme at the DGA, the French Defence Procurement Agency (IGA) General Engineer Guilhem Reboul explains that the idea is to ensure that "part of the processing is done directly in the antenna itself and no longer in dedicated computers".

"It's very innovative," he says. He adds: "Gallium nitride [GaN] technology will be preferred for the antenna modules in order to allow new functions such as the interleaving of air-to-air and air-to-ground modes. Combined with enhanced processing capabilities thanks to increasingly powerful algorithms and computing resources, these modules will guarantee remarkable detection ranges and high resistance to jamming," in line with the Aero Electronic Warfare 2025 PST, which is preparing the Rafale F4 and... Rafale F5 upgrades.

Hence the priority given by the DGA to the establishment of a French gallium nitride industry, within the framework of the NIGAMIL programme [for "Gallium nitride for MILimetric applications"]. Indeed, this material is used in particular for the manufacture of high-performance integrated circuits operating at up to 100 GHz, which would significantly improve the power level, efficiency and therefore the compactness of radar systems, active antennas or electronic warfare systems.

In the meantime, explains Air Fan, the Rafale F4.1, currently under development, will have an RBE2 AESA radar equipped with a GMTI [Ground Moving Target Indicator] mode for the detection and tracking of ground targets [testing of this has been completed] as well as an improved SAR [Synthetic Aperture Radar] mode for the production of very high resolution radar ground maps. "For the crews, these developments will be a spectacular operational advance.

deepl trad.
 
some news about F4 and F5 std :

A totally new radar is on the drawing board for a 2030 entry date (with all the previously developped software, ie a fully mature radar from the begining) : a fully GaN radar, RBE2 XG (extended Generation). This radar will operate in X, Ka and Ku bands, and be ready for high power jamming in coordination with the evolved GaN Spectra suite.

A new operational UCAV will be developped by Dassault, based on N@uron, to help the Rafale F5 to counter S350 - S400 and S500 SAM. Between two and four of these UCAVs could be driven by each Rafale F5.
In addition, two types of Remote Carrier are developed by MDBA for the SCAF , with a rapid integration to rafale F5 : the RC 100 and the bigger and heavyer RC 200. The Rafale F5 will be able to carry 8 of these remote carriers.
Operating in packs, exchanging information to distribute roles, these Remote Carriers do not only have the role of entering a contested or totally jammed space to saturate the opposing defenses with deception or strike tactics. They must also make it possible to uncover out hidden surveillance or tracking radars, thanks to their optical sensors, but also to identify, by angular listening, the characteristics of the adversary sensors to optimize the electronic attacks of the RBE2 XG.

The Pod Talios and the new IRST which was developed in collaboration with IAF use Middle Wave Infra red technology. Talios would be able to visualize, in discretion because passive, engine plume at nearly 200 km and the new IRST would have a range of more than 100 km to engage an aerial target with a MICA NG missile without use of the Radar when RF discretion is required.
These new tech make possible to pursue stealthy platforms such as the SU-57 and the J-20.

The MICA NG will begin its tests at the Biscarosse base from 2023 and could go into production from 2026 to equip the Rafale F4. The progress made on its passive or active seekers, both in terms of performance and miniaturization, makes this development possible. Size reduction of the seekers allow a bugger and dual pulse motor. Its target engagement capabilities are around 100 km (in IR version) and 130 km (in RF version).
The new RF seeker will be an AESA one. It will be the basis of the new modernized METEOR seeker (as the RF seeker of the legacy MICA was used on Meteor).
 

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