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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Next to nothing is known about LREW (which seems to be PL-21 or later missile’s counterpart)
So we will have to wait for a long time. I wonder how the Meteor MLU on the Rafale will stack up against AIM-260 on other fighters, but we will have to wait for some time before that can be answered with any bit of certainty
Would like to hear more about AMRAAM-AXE though, let’s take it to the amraam thread
The rafale already carries missiles that weight more than the ASTER. The SCALP is an exemple of it. The main issue is the shape and weight distribution of the missile I believe
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yeah thats what i said
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Weird how this post gets flagged when the mod i’m making fun of is a friend of mine and likes this post lol
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Makes me also wonder how far the development of dual Meteor mounts has come by now and if France would introduce these on F.5.
May be a better solution considering you would loose lot of fuel by attaching Meteors on the fuel tank pylons.
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I feel like it’d be more likely we see the return of the centerline pylons and/or possibly mounts for the cheek pylons(Maybe not Meteor, but MICA at the least) before they sacrifice the inner wing pylons just due to how important those drop tanks are.