Rafale HMD in game has IFF like the F-16Cs and the Typhoons?
no
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nope, it lost it when they updated the symbology to the (somewhat) correct scorpion symbology.
It’s currently missing both the IFF and multi color symbology as of now
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The unveiling of the Malice missile under the LRAAM program is reminiscent of the French COMET (or Comète) missile project mentioned in the updated Military Programming Law and previously highlighted early in the year by the Chief of Staff of the Air and Space Force. Paris plans to develop a new very-long-range air-to-air missile with the ambitious goal of arming the Rafale F4 by 2030, thereby bypassing the need to wait for the arrival of the Rafale F5 a few years later or for the development of a new Meteor variant in collaboration with the British.
As with Malice, the timeline raises questions. Either the program is older than it appears, or it relies on widely available technological building blocks, or its specifications were deliberately narrowed to address a priority need: giving the Rafale the ability to threaten enemy aircraft particularly support platforms at greater ranges.
There isn’t much articles going in depths for this, there must be some tweets more suggestive about it but well, anyway the second part about it relying on already existing block is now the only parts mentionned by journalists and some of his comments clearly states that it is the case and not the program being older.
Comete has to be non ramjet because of the tight shedules, that is the best i can offer you.
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France has a lot of experience on developing and building rocket motors, so this isn’t very surprising - the actual question is what the body will look like or which already existing it could be based on.
The seeker is more than likely going to be the same as in MICA NG EM, as with most electronics if you ask me.
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since its supposed to replace(/supplement) the Meteor its prolly around those dimension id guess
there’s also this
“provisionning and industrialization works before start of production”
So very minimal R&D work
Could be a modified S530D with reduced diameter and double or triple boost
Could also be something with a liquid statoreactor, seeing as much of the R&D for these was already done for ASMP and Stratus, and MBDA seems to have experimented a bit in the 80s - 90s and considered it for AAMs
Second option seems far less likely though and heavily depends on what amount of work they did at the time
No… Same with the “air launched aster 30”, easier to redo everything than to take literall scrap that is not well optimised for long range.
Hopefully it’s a dragless design similar to PL-17, AIM-260, ASRAAM.
Wouldn’t make much sense to redo with what is essentially still a S530F design since that’s what the S530D’s is. The body most likely is going to be much newer while the actual inside components are off-the-shelf solutions.
So this is an actual interesting trip down memory lane. The Meteor had its dimensions and weight revolving around being similar to the AMRAAM as the Meteor countries had envisioned replacing the AMRAAM with the Meteor where the AMRAAM goes. So the inner 6 missile pylons of the Eurofighter defined the Meteor missile’s dimensions and weight.
However the inner 4 pylons where the Meteor goes on the Rafale were always capable of taking something heavier and bigger than the Meteor. With Comete, the Rafale is now allowed to have missiles that are not limited in weight/dimensions.
Lets play with our fantasy; if I was MBDA, how should a medium-long range missile look like, while also cost effective and easy to create and build within the next 3-4 years?
Maybe something like an Aster with much less wing area and increased length to fit larger motor?
My guess is for a fatter MICA NG and no TVC for more fuel while keeping of the shelf components, the body probably being lifting body design for lower drag. being purely rocket powered would make it less expensive than Meteor, but it would need at the very least dual pulse to reach the same range as meteor
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That’s what i was trying to refer to with “modernized” S530D
since MICA is basically a smaller and thinner S530D with TVC X)
If we’re going to think of something like a surface to air missile that had already been made by MBDA, might I suggest a solution currently being developed?
Remove the first stage to fit it onto the Rafale. The kill vehicle would be less draggy than MICA or Aster dart.
That could work lol. Completely forgot about this one.
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Depends on if the 2nd stage actually has better kinematics than a Meteor without the massive 1st stage. Given the 2nd stage is trajectory shaping, maybe not so powerful. Kinda the same with an air launched Aster as well.
I guess in cases as thsee such “recycled purpose” missiles would get new motors instead of having the same as previous anyway.
But I agree the existing motor in both may not be powerful enough, especially on Aster.
Given that the slide says it has thrust modulation, I would imagine that the 2nd stage’s performance would change depending on the target, whether it is a high altitude interception against ballistic missiles or intending to target fighter jets.
Not what you’d want, you need some kind of boost stage, modulating a sustainer will give pretty meh performance without it, as @WreckingAres283 mentioned you’d swap the motor. And save common parts like seeker, body and fins etc. Not to dissimilar to how the CAMM family works.
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The problem of putting Aquila on a plane, would be the fact you lose the 1st stage, which is the thing bringing it up to speed. KV lacks motor pushing it forward, only side motors used for aiming.
Another thing is unless I missed something, that missile is designed to target ballistic missiles very high up. 2nd stage will not be that maneuverable, while KV relies on the energy provided to it by the previous stages, and on the fact it is operating in a environment where the drag is severely reduced.
Its performace in “normal” fighter altitudes will be severely reduced.
Does the AIM-174B lack something bringing it up to speed since it loses the main booster of the SM-6?
Does it?
