Dassault Rafale - Variants, Characteristics, Armament and Performance

Probably not, seeing as the Chinese players do notably better in their M2K5Ei than they do in their J-11B and J-10A, tho this could technically be argued to be due to the other 2 jets having more games played.

The whole “if we do well its cuz of player skill, if they do well, its cuz their vehicles are OP” discussion point is one of the dumbest ones in the WT community. Almost everyone just uses it as a crutch to justify their overperforming stuff, which basically makes it a non-starter as a point.

Could just as easily say “the chinese pilots are superior in skill to the french ones, since given the same vehicle, they perform better”, which would reinforce the fact of how broken the rafale is.

Both Mk.1 and Mk.2 use GaN.

Are you sure? One of the benefits of GaN AESA radars is supposedly to be able to simultaneously jam while operating air to air/surface modes and I believe ECRS Mk2 offers that over the Mk1.

Meh, just let the Rafale dominate for a bit. Other nations will be given new and competitive jets soon enough and the Rafale is going to be dethroned,

One plane is always going to be the “best”

And i don’t even have the Rafale and dont even play France nor do I particularly like it so can’t call bias there.

And i doubt France is going to be given anything better for a looooong time

The issue isnt that it is the best. The issue is it has been given buffs and upgrades that have been denied for other nations for no apparent reason and its dominating by a significant margin.

With the current state of balance, it should be the only 14.3 in game.

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I still fail to se an issue with this

Ah yes, the plane is absurdly broken and stomps on any of it’s competetion.

i still fail to see an issue with this

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Would support removing the extra crap from Gripen A, if they resolved the state of Gripens in general (We’re effectively missing a pylon, among other issues) and gave us ones that are actually comparable to Rafale and EFT (NG or E).

ECRS Mk1

Spoiler

Collaborating with Indra, Hensoldt is leading the project for an upgraded AESA radar for the Eurofighter Typhoon, incorporating components from the baseline CAPTOR-E Mk0. The projected started in 2020 after the German and Spanish government approved funds totalling €1.5 billions, covering development, integration and delivery to retrofit the entire fleet of Tranche 2/3 Luftwaffe Eurofighters and an initial 5 Spanish Air Force aircraft.

ECRS Mk1, Hensoldt

The following Luftwaffe Quadriga (38 aircraft) and Spanish Halcon I (20 aircraft) Eurofighters were later also contracted with Mk1 radars. The planned Halcon II procurement will likely result in an order of an additional 25 airframes, raising the number of orders to approximately 200 radar sets.

Besides Hensoldt and Indra the original consortium partner Leonardo is also involved in the project, mainly dealing with supplying legacy components from the Mk0 radar such as the radar processor and modified components of the antenna power supply & control unit.

One of the main hardware changes compared to existing Mk0 radars are new Gallium-Nitride (GaN) based wideband T/R modules. The introduction of new T/R modules was necessitated by the Luftwaffe’s requirements for longer detection ranges and UHR SAR imagery with 10cm resolution.

The other major hardware development is the introduction of a digital multi-channel receiver. Compared to the old (partly analog) 3 channel receiver with PowerPC processors, the new receiver is fully digital and makes use of modern multi-core processors. The new hardware greatly improves the radar’s electronic countermeasure (ECM). Additionally the added data capacity also opens up possibilities for the introduction of Electronic Attack (EA) and other non-traditional radar features.

In 2022 problems arose for the project as the German authorities failed to certify the new multi-core processors with existing certification processes, which resulted in delays and cost-overrun. In the same year the decision was made to adapt the Eurofighter for the Electronic Combat and Reconaissance (ECR) mission role, which led to additional Electronic Warfare features being required for the Mk1 radars. This resulted in a follow-up contract worth €200 million in late 2023, covering the additional expenses.

The program is structured to have a 2-phase maturation stage, with the radars initially being delivered in a ‘Step 1’ configuration, featuring the new T/R modules and the digital receiver. The software will also be brought to a new standard compared to existing Mk0 updates. The ‘Step 2’ improvement is planned to be fielded by 2028. The objective is to revamp the software and task architecture while also modernize the radar processor, doubling the amount of radar features. The upgrade will introduce new offensive Electronic Warfare capabilities and improve the performance of existing modes. After the upgrade developers and engineers will also have the possibility of remotely updating the radar’s software.

Current plans foresee the first Mk1 radar sets to be fielded with the delivery of the first Luftwaffe Tranche 4 (Quadriga) aircraft in 2025.

https://web.archive.org/web/20240225084309/https://defensearchives.de/editorials/the-eurofighters-aesa-radars/

Yes. Mk.1 is meant to perform that as well, but it will only receive that capability in Phase 2.

You’re talking about it like it’s literally unbeatable… it’s not.

Is it generally the best 14.0 rn yes
Is it the best in every single application? No

What’s the problem?

One of the best radars
debatabaly the best flight model
the best RWR/MAWS
good missile kit
ahistorical modifications that never were in french service

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Only “issue” would be the ahistorical modifications If it’s not something the plane is capable off.

If it’s a question of they just never used X thing then who cares.

But i know nothing of those so if you would enlighten me of those cheers

iirc its being able to bring 8x MICA and having acess to Scorpion HMD

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Wasn’t the HMD introduced into French services in 2018?

honestly idek, those are the 2 i hear thrown around a lot

wierd, if you google “when did France get Scorpion HMD” stuff like this comes up. seems like the order was placed, not even delivered, in 2021

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Ahh ok as I said I know practically nothing about this, just some shit I’ve heard somewhere on the forums or bug reports.

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the Rafale F.3 in french service neither had a HMD nor 8 missiles
they both got added because “it could technically have it, because it got tested”
India is using both a HMD and 8 missiles on their Rafales but the one we got in game shouldnt have that

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So is it a case of it can but never did?

Or is there something stopping it from using said missile loadout.

As for the HMD If the in game Rafale variant never had HMD it shouldn’t have HMD

“It could technically use it and has been tested” has been the standard for many jets added

Scratch that, most of the game

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