Personally, some day gajin might add Rafale B F4 (F4.1) for france tech tree
But french Rafale F3-R old IRST ? 🤔
Honestly i’d rather have only C variants of Rafale but if B variants are labelled attackers then why not.
I kinda want them to strap an Aster-30 under a Rafale wing, just to see the speed it can reach when fired high and fast
For science purposes only of course
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@MightyBaozi Could you please comment on this ‘forum moderation’? Because it has become ridiculous. Here I was having a perfectly valid conversation about how different spectral bands perform in various atmospheric conditions (with supporting evidence, mind you), and it has now been removed. In what way did the last two posts not fit forum guidelines?
Well, start off by messaging them in DM not by continuing potentially off topic behavior
You would have to PM me to avoid creating even more off-topic. Please do that.
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I see now. I guess even the OSF on the rafale is off topic now. Loving it. It’s so bad some people’s egos don’t allow for constructive discussions on the capabilities of certain aircrafts
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Mfw I can’t even discuss spectral bands…
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without the booster probably about as much as the normal one with the booster but gound launched…
with the booster… good luck strapping that to a jet without it falling apart
yeah without booster it’s basically a chunckier MICA, with lateral thrust vectoring
But with it would be fun, although i agree the shape of that SAM wouldn’t help to fit under an aircraft’s wing X)
not just the shape but think about the weight… you’re probably gonna be attaching the missile via the missile, not the booster. but the booster is heavy as helllllllll so it’ll put a crap load of … load on that connection point which is probably most definitely not built for it
eh fair
it was more a fun thought than a real idea, i’m well ware it’s not viable in any way
i mean the aim-174 exists lol
how about we strap an air to air ICBM to a rafale?
weight wise the Aster could fit under the rafale, the exocet is after all heavier, with a similar length
The problem is the distinctive shape the Aster has, unlike most SAMs, it has two separate and very distinct diameters so to speak (380 mm on booster, 180mm on “terminal dart”)
Regarding SM-6 on a F18, it seems like an attempt to have a temporary response against PL-15s and Meteors while newer generations of missiles are developped in the US. Having a 860kg missile under the wings is not really practical in any way, as you have limited quantity, but it also reduces your flight envelope quite dramatically.
Rafale having already access to very long range AAM in the form of meteor, i don’t see why the french air force would strap a long range SAM under a Rafale, that’s why i only a consider it a “fun thought”
could use it to intercept some SRBMs
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At least for AIM-174, they removed the extra booster section. If they ever did do it for the rafale and the Aster, I’d expect the same to happen
There is also the AMRAMM-AXE (the Air launched counterpart to, (SL-)AMRAAM-ER), being the 10" motor stack common to the ESSM (RIM-162) / NASAAM (sans the surface cold launch booster stage) with a late AMRAAM seeker and guidance section.
So both the USN and USAF have their own stopgap Extended Range missiles, its just that less is known about what exactly the status of the USAF program(s) of record (Inc. the AM-260), not that historic extended range efforts like the AIM-152 did not occur, and it’s not even the first time air-launched Standard Missiles (AGM-78) have entered service, let alone those optimized for use against aerial target sets (AIM-97).
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I would think France would strap Meteors to the inner fuel tank pylons long before they consider strapping Aster missiles onto the Rafale which would increase the amount of Meteors carried from 4 to 6, which might happen with Rafale F5 anyway.
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