Dassault Rafale - Variants, Characteristics, Armament and Performance

where and when?

Export success outside of Europe, the only thing that beats it is the US arms market.

Radar tech, from the start the Rafale was better

Arguably better ECM (though this is kinda hard to prove since it’s classified AF) (360° coverage for sure though)

Payload, the Rafale has it beat by about a ton

*On account of subsidising and expending long held stock that no longer serves to keep

Let’s just remember which particular exporter we’re talking about regarding what beats it.

Also should note that the Rafale A prototype for the Eurofighter program had been unveiled and flew before the EAP, so it doesn’t make any sense at all to say the Rafale is a copy of anything.

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Yeah, I worded it dodgy, didn’t mean clone so much as things like m4k influenced France’s desire for a thing like Rafale. But my words failed me 😿

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Phrogge :D

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CAPTOR-E is the superior radar
Typhoon has an equal MAWS
Typhoon has at least equal EW
Typhoon has the better A2G loadout options with PW4s (10) and Brimstones (18) and soon Spear-3 (18) (isnt france planning to buy Spear-3 as well?)
PIRATE is equal or superior to the IRST on the Rafale
EFT has equal or superior sensor fusion with Striker II being the most advanced HMD in service currently.
ASRAAM is superior to MICA IR and both nations use METEOR (with Typhoon able to carry more missiles iirc)

You already admit its the superior airframe, so by that regard, Typhoon is at least equal if not superior in every respect except for range, which the Rafale does beat it on, but other than that. The Rafale is the inferior aircraft.

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Different doctrine. Use cases, they’re more or less equal.

Supposedly the manufacturer can configure Rafale to carry a very similar figure regarding AAMs.

shouldnt be too hard to make british ordinance run on a dassault rafale. NATO standardisation probably makes implementing them on aircraft a simple process

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Yeah, just doesn’t fit French doctrine most of what you lot use, outside of brimstones. Don’t think France is acquiring any of the versions of this though?

Yeah, SPEAR 3 planned for UAI integration no?

Like what though? France uses GBU’s, cruise missiles, and Meteors on the Rafale like the UK does on Typhoons

Anyone bug report the fact that if you use the DAMOCLES TGP, you lose the ability to use the OSF?

I’ve long used TGP’s in sim for their ability to quietly ID and track targets from range, and the mix of the DAMOCLES + OSF would provide a rather significant increase in area the optical sensors could be used to look for and track targets.

Spoiler

image

the french use the AASM Hammer.

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Sure there are some differences. But the majority of it overlaps

Yes, it is a deliberate choice by the developers because they had apparently faced the same issue with the Harrier GR7 where bugs occurred when trying to use two different optics even though sources state both can be used at the same time.

Rafale is not capable of utilizing two different optical sensors // Gaijin.net // Issues

Spoiler

Issue15Page

The AAMs overlap, sometimes (1).
The air to ground has some overlap (2?), most notably for the 2k strike platforms (4?).

But for the most part, France prefers the AASM hammer as it aligns with how they use the platforms.

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Yes, although the report should be submitted as a suggestion and devs should fix the bugs or find a work-around rather than ditching the effort completely.

Edit: The report is discussing the Rafale’s optronics bug.

Rafale thread?

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It better be (compare to the Rafale-aesa). Germany version being tested just this year. But its not better than other thing in the world. Its just a GaAs radar after all. That tech its already 15 years old. Lets hope that in 5 years for that UK GaN version the tech don’t have move on to other tech.