Dassault Aviation RAFALE technical data page
Dassault Aviation RAFALE technical data pageThe RAFALE program is born from a mid-70 study whose goal was to produce a new European fighter aircraft. The needs of the French Air Force (Armée de l'Air) was then to replace the old Mirage III et V fighters, Jaguar tactical fighter-bombers and later the first versions of Mirage 2000.
The European collaboration quickly gave birth to 2 major programs :
European Fighter Aircraft (EFA), chosen by United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and later Spain,RAFALE, funded by the French Ministry of Defense and developed by DASSAULT Aviation.| In 1983 France decided the construction of the ACX "Rafale" technology demonstrator to verify the major choices and technologies of the future aircraft.In 1988, the French Navy joins the program in order to replace the ageing F8E Crusader and Super Etendard, both for the future nuclear powered carrier Charles de Gaulle CVN and for the older Foch CV. |  |
One of the main property of the future aircraft was then settled: the Rafale will be a truly multirole aircraft, in order to replace efficiently the last generations of fighters, strike and carrier-based aircrafts. The advance in technology of the last decade allowed for this goal, and was necessary considering the growing price of new aircrafts.
The RAFALE will be less vulnerable to most of the threats in a modern battlefied, thanks to some stealth properties (overall structure, and specifically air intake and reactors nozzles were designed to lower the radar signature), and an all new electronic counter measures system (Spectra). The situational awareness of the crew will be greatly enhanced by a large array of integrated sensors, from the all-new electronic scan radar RBE2, the optical/laser sensor system (OSF), and the radar/infrared/laser warning receiver, to the datalink system (Mids).
On the offensive side, the RAFALE has high maneuvering capabilities, and could use a payload of up to 10 Mica air-air missiles, which, coupled with multi-targeting RBE2 radar, allows to engage simultaneously several bogies.
For strike missions, the RAFALE is an day/night/all-weather aircraft able to use the latest weapons, like the Apache cruise missile, or the future successor of nuclear-tipped missile ASMP.
... to be continued ...