Yeah the 4000 has a very similar paint scheme, but it goes back to the roots of what became two very very good aircraft, I also just like that whole EFA-era of aircraft, the roots of them is all very very interesting (and complicated lol)
Black camo is also of course very nice.
Do not, and I mean seriously, please do not mention the EAP in this thread. I’ve seen what damages saying this name in the RRD thread does, and I don’t want to attract them in this thread !
Its not that deep, most people still on all of that wouldnt even glance at the rafale out of ignorance anyway.
Nice find
Alright thing that has been bothering me:
Dassault claims the Rafale has 14 hardpoints. Alright, 5 of them are fuel tanks and heavy ordnance. Does this mean 5 hardpoints can carry the triple AASM rack? The center pylon can carry weapons, everyone knows that at least, what about the wing root?
And if its 14 Hardpoints, that’s 5 heavy ordnance, so 9 left. 1 for targeting pod
That leaves 8
If the earlier Rafales have 6 AAM, what are the last 2 for?
So to explain allow me to use this :
Ignore the ordnance listed for the hardpoints focus on the numbers :
1 & 14 are used for MICA IR/EM and Magic 2 (Early Rafales)
2 & 13 have been openned for missiles recently for the Rafale F4.1 and is usable since F3R for indian rafales
3 & 12 are mostly used for the AT730 bomb triple racks, big bombs or SCALP
4 & 11 are used only for fuel tanks afaik
6 & 10 are used only for METEOR or MICA
7 & 8 can be regrouped as one pylon as there is never 2 weapons carried on the belly belly is used to carry sometime SCALP or AM39 or reconnaissance pod and most of the time for a fuel tank
5 & 9 are just for pod designation pods
To conclude, the only pylons that are almost never used are pylons 8 & 9. But they are here if they are needed in the future and in any way rarely used pylons(4,7,8,11) might be used by gaijin to hold dumb bombs as it’s technically possible.
The more I read about it, the more I think the French are obsessed with the 3 fuel tank, 2 triple aasm, 4 missile loadout so much that its made proper documentation impossible, because this is so incredibly particular to have 2 fuel-tank-only stations
(aka average french things)
Well it allows for a long range of projection being able to strike far from land or aircraft carrier without the need for refueling is actually a very intersting gimmick.
Also to make realistic charts of complete configurations of armament for the Rafale you’d need the flight manual of the plane and a lot of classified technical data about the internal electronics and the wiring capabilities of each hardpoint.
For example it is highly probable the points 4 and 11 can be used to carry bombs like the points for fuel tanks on Mirage 2000 could be used to hold the 530D or some bombs it’s just that we don’t know the wiring of these pylons.
Oh yeah its functional for IRL stuff, but dammit France, at least fly around max AASM payload for a display or something like everyone else
Showing off has never been part of French military attitude like it is for US or Russia or even China. Keeping some infos secret help because the ennemy you face might underestimate you then and the effect of surprise is a key element in combat.
US keeps a lot of stuff secret lol. the only jets they really show off are 70’s and early 80’s jets.
to this day a lot about the F-117 is unknown, and we know literally nothing about the B-21 other than its apparantly a 6th gen aircraft and its smaller than the B-2
It’s like the Mirage 2000 and even the previous Mirage 3/5. The wing fuel tanks allow the plane to gain significant range. You need to consider the rather large territory of France when you add all those overseas territories. The different armies want to have operational ranges allowing them to cross oceans with minimal logistical strain, that is with limiting the number of air refuelling required. Those 2 underwing subsonic fuel tanks allow for such capabilities and are basically mandatory for any expeditionary intervention, which is what France has been doing in the past decades. If they were to operate inside of the European borders (let’s say Ukraine or Russia, for some reason), they could free up those hard points for other type of weaponry, and that’s exactly why we have seen the newer standard evolve in this way with the Rafale hard points being opened for pretty much every possible armement (AAM, AGM…)
Like what? They are only used 1% of the time bc in GWOT the enemy had nothing worth using our good weapons on
Hi, I’m looking at what the Rafale HUD and MFDs might look like and I came across this source, does anyone know if it’s reliable or not?
Normally the images come either from an army simulator or from a Dassault demonstration video.
RAFALE : Interface Homme Machine - RAFALE : The omnirole fighter
Most reliable online source you can find (besides Manufacturer, French MoD etc ofc).
Thanks, if the MFDs really look like that and are well modeled in game the plane will look amazing in simulation
Cockpit ergonomics has consistently been very very well praised in pilot feedback for the Rafale.
A recurring theme was that the displays were very modern and that everything was just where it ‘should’ be.
So yeah you just proved me right. US is a lot about showing off.
You can also use my corrected version of it;
