Dassault Rafale

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The Rafale is a highly agile French twin-engined delta-wing multi-role fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. Dassault use 'Omni Role' as a marketing term in an effort to differentiate the aircraft from other 'multi-role' fighters which have primary and secondary roles. Dassault also use the term to indicate the ability to switch from one role to another during a single sortie - a 'Swing Role' capability first seen in the F/A-18 Hornet.

Rafale is being produced both for land-based use with the French Air Force and for carrier-based naval operation with the French Navy. It has also been actively and aggressively marketed to a variety of export customers. Rafale is widely regarded as the outstanding achievement of France's leading aircraft manufacturer.

1 History
2 Variants
3 Combat systems
4 Programme milestones
5 Standards
6 Users
- 6.1 Export
  - 6.1.1 Saudi Arabia
7 Costs
8 Problems
9 Specifications (Rafale)
10 External links
11 References
12 Related content

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History

Image:FS CdG Rafale.jpg In the mid 1970s, both the French Air Force (Armée de l'Air) and Navy (Aéronavale) had a requirement (the Navy's being rather more pressing) to find a new generation of fighter (principally to replace AdlA Jaguars and Aéronavale Crusaders), and their requirements were similar enough to be merged into one project. This requirement was initially to be met by the Future European Fighter Aircraft (F/EFA) involving Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Differences soon emerged in the project, carrier capability was specific to France only and while France wanted an offensive ground-attack aircraft with secondary air-to-air role the other nations had air-to-air as their primary mission, with varying interest in a secondary air-to-ground role. Dassault was authorised to work on a technology demonstrator in 1983 named the Rafale ("Squall"). The final divergence came in 1985, following French demands for far ranging control of the F/EFA project, including all senior roles within the joint company. France announced its intention to leave the project and committed to the national Rafale. Its former partners continued their collaboration on what was to become the Eurofighter Typhoon.

The Rafale A technology demonstrator was rolled out in late 1985 and made its maiden flight on 4 July 1986, two months ahead of the British Aerospace EAP technology demonstrator which formed the basis of the Eurofighter. The SNECMA M88 engines being developed were not considered sufficiently mature for the initial trials programme to be conducted without risk (though their development status has often been underplayed), so the demonstrator flew with General Electric F404-GE-400 afterburning turbofans as used on the F/A-18 Hornet. The demonstrator impressed the French Ministry of Defence enough to place production orders in 1988.

Further testing continued, including carrier touch-and-go landings and test-flying early M88 engines, before the Rafale A was retired in 1994. Though the Rafale A and EAP were broadly comparable, when the first Eurofighter made its maiden flight in March 1994, pre-series Rafales had been flight-testing for three years, including carrier trials (Rafale C01, Rafale M01 and Rafale B01 first flew in May 1991, December 1991 and April 1993 respectively).

Three versions of Rafale were in the initial production order:

Rafale C (Chasseur) Single-seat fighter for the Armée de l'Air
Rafale B (Biplace) Two-seat fighter for the AdA
Rafale M (Marine) Single-seat carrier fighter for the Aéronavale

The prototype Rafale C flew in 1991, the first of two Rafale M prototypes flew later that year, the prototype Rafale B flew in early 1993 and the second Rafale M prototype flew later that year. Catapult trials were initially carried out between July 13 and August 23 1992 at NAS Lakehurst in New Jersey, USA, and Patuxent River, Maryland, USA, France having no land-based catapult test facility. The aircraft then undertook trials aboard the carrier Foch.

Initially the Rafale B was to be just a trainer, but Gulf War and Kosovo experience showed that a second crewmember is invaluable on strike and reconnaissance missions, and therefore more Rafale Bs were ordered, replacing some Rafale Cs. A similar decision was made by the Navy, who initially did not have a two-seat aircraft on order; the program nevertheless was stopped.

Political and economic uncertainty meant that it was not until 1999 that a production Rafale M flew.

The French forces were once expected to order 292 Rafales: 232 for the Air Force and 60 for the Navy. Reductions are now widely predicted. Only 120 Rafales have actually been officially ordered to date, however. These are being delivered in three separate batches, the most recent being the December 2004 order for 59 Rafales, though the French MoD has revealed that this figure is currently under study and is likely to be reduced to 51 aircraft "for the same overall cost". It was hinted that the sacrifice of 8-12 aircraft would "allow for the introduction of new sensors developed by the French industry on this batch."

The marine version has priority since the aircraft it is replacing are much older, especially the Vought F-8 Crusader fighter which is a 50 year old design. Service deliveries began in 2001 and the type 'entered service' on 4 December 2000, though the first squadron, Flotille 12, did not actually reform until 18 May 2001. The unit embarked on the Charles de Gaulle in 2002, becoming fully operational on 25 June 2004, following an extended opeval (operational evaluation) which included flying limited escort and tanker missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom over Afghanistan. Though restricted to an air-to-air role, with a limited range of weapons the Rafale M was claimed by some to be the most advanced fighter in service in Europe at the time.

The Armee de l'Air received it's first three Rafale Bs (to F2 standards) in late December 2004. They went to the CEAM at Mont-de-Marsan for operational evaluation and associated pilot conversion training. The first Armée de l'Air frontline unit, Escadron de Chasse 1/7 Provence, will form at St Dizier during 2006, delayed deliveries having forced some delay to the squadron's stand up date. FOC was until recently still optimistically scheduled for September 2006, but has now slipped back to mid-2007, when the type should be fully operational as an Omni-role fighter/fighter-bomber with Mica AAMs, Scalp EG ASMs, GPS-guided bombs, and LGBs (though the latter will be designated by other platforms or by ground based systems). It will then be the most advanced multi-role fighter in service in Europe.

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Variants

Image:Rafale and CVN 74.jpg

Rafale A
This was a technology demonstrator that first flew in 1986, as described above. It has now been retired.

Rafale D
Dassault used this designation (D for discret or stealthy) in the early 1990s for the production versions for the Armée de l'Air, to emphasize the new semi-stealthy features they had added to the design.

Rafale B
This is the 2-seater version for the Armée de l'Air; delivered to EC 330 in 2004.

Rafale C
This is the single-seat version for the Armée de l'Air; delivered to EC 330 in June 2004.

Rafale M
This is the carrier-borne version for the Aéronavale, which entered service in 2002. The Rafale M weighs about 500 kg (1,100 lb) more than the Rafale C. Unusually for a carrier-based plane, it does not have folding wings. This was to save money by increasing commonality with the land-based Rafales. Very similar to the Rafale C in appearance, the M differs in the following respects:
- Strengthened to withstand the rigors of carrier-based aviation
- Stronger landing gear
- Longer nose gear leg to provide a more nose-up attitude for catapult launches
- Deleted front center pylon (to give space for the longer gear)
- Large stinger-type tailhook between the engines
- Built-in power operated boarding ladder
- Carrier microwave landing system
- "Telemir" inertial reference platform that can receive updates from the carrier systems.

Rafale N
The Rafale N, originally called the Rafale BM, was planned to be a 2-seater version for the Aéronavale. Budget constraints and the cost of training extra crew members have been cited as the grounds for its cancellation.

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Combat systems

Image:Dassault Rafale weaponry DSC04186.JPG The Rafale carries, for the first time in aviation history, an integrated electronic survival system named SPECTRA which features a software-based virtual stealth technology. But the most important sensor is the THALES RBE2 passive electronically scanned multi-mode radar. THALES claim to achieve unprecedented levels of situational awareness through the earlier detection and tracking of multiple targets: detection and tracking of multiple air targets for close combat and long-range interception, real time generation of three-dimensional maps for terrain-following, and the real time generation of high resolution ground maps for navigation and targeting.

However, in those circumstances when signature management is required, Rafale can use several passive sensor systems:

The front-sector electro optical system or Optroniques Secteur Frontal (OSF), developed by Thales, is completely integrated within the aircraft and can operate both in the visible and infrared wavelengths.

The SPECTRA electronic warfare system, jointly developed by Thales and MBDA, provides the aircraft with the highest survivability assets against airborne and ground threats. The real-time data link allows communication not only with other aircraft, but also with fixed and mobile command and control centres. For those missions requiring it, RAFALE will also eventually use the DAMOCLES electro-optical/laser designation pod that brings full day and night LGB capability, though the Armée de l'Air's current plans call for Rafale to use stand off weapons, and for the LGB role to be handled by Mirage 2000s.

Though current Rafale variants are claimed to be capable of supercruise, the aircraft was unable to demonstrate this during the Singapore evaluation, and many sources suggest that the aircraft is only marginally capable of supercruise, with light weapons loads and under certain atmospheric conditions, though a planned engine upgrade should, according to some sources , remove this limitation and allow the Rafale to supercruise with more realistic loads at around Mach 1.4.

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Programme milestones

Milestones include:

1983
- April - Dassault awarded contract for ACX (Rafale A) technology demonstrator
1985
- France formally withdraws from Eurofighter programme, commits to Rafale project.
1988
- April - First order signed (for Rafale C prototype).
1986
- July 4 - First flight of Rafale A
- December - Development of SNECMA M88 engines commences
1990
- February - Flight tests of M-88 begin
1991
- May 19 - First flight of Armée de l'Air single seat prototype (Rafale C)
- December 12 - First flight of Aéronavale prototype (Rafale M)
1992
- Rafale M carrier trials programme begins
1993
- March - First contract for production aircraft signed.
- April - Start of carrier compatibility trials with Foch.
- April 30 - First flight of Armée de l'Air twin seat prototype (Rafale B)
1995
- June - First Mica fired from Rafale in self guided mode.
- July - OSF system and helmet-mounted sight/display installed and tested.
- September - Rafale M tested on board carrier (4th series).
- November - First non-stop long-range flight by Rafale B01 (3,020 nm in under 6 hours 30 minutes).
- October - Final land-based carrier test series of Rafale M in the USA.
- December - First production model fuselage assembly.
1996
- March - M88 engine "flightworthiness" qualified.
- April - Production suspended, restarted in January 1997 following cost reductions.
- May - Low level tests with digital terrain database.
- July - Spectra electronic warefare system integration tests in anechoic chamber
- November - Spectra flight tested.
- December - First deliveries of production standard engines.
1997
- February - Rafale B01 flight tested in heavyweight configuration (2 Apache ASMs, 3 2,000l drop tanks, 2 Magic and 2 Mica AAMs).
- May - First inertially-guided MICA firing.
- June - Flight testing of Spectra countermeasures system.
- October - First production RBE2 radar flown for the first time.
- November - Inertially-guided firing of missiles against two targets, with aircraft-to-missile link, with countermeasures.
1998
- June - Qualification of MICA fire control system.
- June - Proposed initial operational capability evaluated by Navy and Air Force pilots flying Rafale B01 and M02 development aircraft.
- November 24 - First flight of production Rafale (a Rafale B)
1999
- May - First test launch of SCALP cruise missile.
- July 6 - First deck landing of FS Charles de Gaulle.
- July 7 - First flight of production Rafale M
2000
- July 20 - First Rafale M delivered to Flotille 12F
2002
- Rafale M entered service with 12F (Aeronavale, evaluation)
2004
- Full service entry with 12F (Navy)
- December - 3 Rafale Bs delivered to CEAM, Mont de Marsan
- September 9 - First Meteor GHTM (General Handling Training Missiles) carriage trials by Rafale M from CEV Istres
2005
- September 11 - First Meteor GHTM carriage trials by Rafale M from the carrier Charles de Gaulle.
Summer 2006
- Formation of EC 1/7 with 8-10 aircraft
Mid 2007
- Full service entry (Air Force) expected with EC7

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Standards

Image:Rafale2 ag1.jpg Initial deliveries of the Rafale M were to the F1 ("France 1") standard. This meant that the aircraft was suitable for air-to-air combat, replacing the obsolescent F-8 Crusader as the Aviation Navale's carrier-based fighter, but not equipped or armed for air-to-ground operations. Future deliveries (to Flotille 11 some time after 2007) will be to the "F2" standard, giving air-to-ground capability, and replacing the Dassault Super Étendard in the ground attack role and the Dassault Étendard IVP in the reconnaissance role. This will leave the Rafale M as the only fixed-wing aircraft flown by the Aviation Navale, and plans are to upgrade all airframes to the "F3" standard, with terrain-following 3D radar and nuclear capability, from early in the decade following 2010.

The first Rafale C delivered to the Armée de l'Air, in June 2005, was to the "F2" standard, and it is anticipated that upgrades similar to those of the navy will take place in the future. The Rafale replaces the SEPECAT Jaguar, Mirage F1 and the Mirage 2000 in the Armée de l'Air.

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Users

Image:Rafale ag1.jpg The Rafale is now in service in the trials and training role with the French Air Force (CEAM/EC 5/330) and EC 1/7 at St Dizier is expected to receive a nucleus of 8-10 Rafale F2s during the Summer of 2006, and looks set to enter full operational service (with robust air-to-air and stand off air-to-ground precision attack capabilities) during mid 2007 (when EC 1/7 will have about 20 aircraft). The aircraft is already in limited operational service with the French Navy (Flotille 12F) in the air-to-air role, and has undertaken a great deal of air-to-ground trials and evaluation work.

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Export

No foreign sales have yet been made, though the type has been rated highly in a number of evaluations.

The Rafale was shortlisted (with the F-15) in South Korea in early 2002, but was eliminated from the competition in April 2002. Dassault immediately filed a court injunction in Seoul, disputing the selection process, which it claimed to be biased in favor of US interests. The Korean defense ministry responded that the selection was made on the basis of the F-15K's multirole capability, payload, combat radius, performance, and the proven combat capability of the F-15E upon which the F-15K was based. The Korea Times (14 December 2005, Jung Sung-ki) reported that "Rafale had outperformed F-15K in the first inspection of operational capabilities" however, and it has been widely reported in France that Rafale won the 'technical' evaluation.

In August 2005 Singapore selected the Boeing F-15SG after a run-off with the Rafale. The Typhoon had been eliminated from the competition in June 2005. The small size of the order for the F-15T (F-15SG) leaves open the possibility of a further order, perhaps for a second aircraft type.

Rafale was placed second behind versions of the F-15 in both Korea and Singapore, and remained in both competitions after the rival Eurofighter Typhoon was eliminated. The selection of the older US fighter was widely suspected to have been influenced by political factors and by reasons of tight timescales, and many Rafale supporters took some comfort in the aircraft's apparently better performance in the competitions than its rivals. French newspapers and aviation publications have claimed this as evidence that the aircraft was more advanced, more cost-effective and more capable than its rivals.

According to a number of publications (including the prestigious industry newsletter Defence Analysis, and Flight Daily News), however, though Rafale 'out-lasted' Typhoon in both competitions, the Eurofighter aircraft's rejection in Singapore was on political grounds, and that it was preferred by the evaluation team. Flight Daily News reported a senior Eurofighter GmbH source as describing lead company BAE's bid performance as having been shambolic, though the official reason given was Eurofighter's inability to meet Singapore's tight timescales.

Similar reports suggest that Typhoon scored highly in South Korea, but was rejected because it could not meet the country's ambitious service entry date targets, though these reports were largely confined to the English language press. French sources maintain that Rafale “scored better than Eurofighter each time it bid for foreign exports” though this is not supported by any published evidence.

According to Jean Michel Guhl in eDefense Online, cost has been Rafale's greatest stumbling block. "On Dec. 8, 2005, during a meeting in Paris of France's ruling UMP ruling party, Defense Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie said that the "high price tag of the Rafale" did not help her in "promoting the sale of the fighter on the export market and, thus, alleviate the overall bill on the French taxpayer."

The French press reported that Rafale was not selected by Algeria because of its cost, when pitted against the MiG-29, and also outlined an unsuccessful bid in Vietnam. If such bids ever happened they would seem to represent a triumph of optimism over realism, since neither nation could afford an aircraft in the Rafale's class.

Several other countries have shown interest in purchasing the Rafale, including the Republic of India <ref>[1]</ref>, where the Mirage 2000 had been expected to win further orders, before the production line closed, and where Rafale therefore seemed well-placed. Dassault had still not received an Indian RFP for Rafale by March 2006, however.

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Saudi Arabia

Template:Cleanup-date An energetic marketing campaign in Saudi Arabia, backed by lobbying by French President Jacques Chirac in favour of the Rafale, seemed to have stalled in December 2005, when the UK Ministry of Defence announced that the Governments of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland had signed an 'Understanding Document'. This confirmed that Typhoon would replace Tornado ADVs and other unspecified types currently in service with the RSAF. The details of these arrangements were confidential between the two Governments, and reports of the number of aircraft involved are thus entirely speculative. It was initially reported that the initial order (which had not been inked by March 2006) would include 24 or 48 Tranche 2 Typhoons, though it soon became clear that the initial MoU covered the supply of 72 aircraft Template:Ref.

Prince Sultan had earlier spoken about the Rafale in glowing terms, and some reports suggested that a letter of intent for the 96 aircraft had been signed (Les Echoes 16 April 2005). Rafale was seriously considered in Saudi Arabia as was widely reported during the second quarter of 2005, when many papers, including Les Echos (the Financial Times' sister newspaper) assumed that the "broader defence, security and industrial accord" signed during a meeting in Paris "between Jacques Chirac, French president, and Crown Prince Abdullah, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler" included an order 96 Rafale combat aircraft.

Previous sales to Saudi Arabia have put BAE Systems in an entrenched and powerful position in the Kingdom, and Saudi interest in Rafale (reported by Les Echos, La Tribune and Forbes) spoke volumes for the French aircraft, even though reports of contracts and letters of intent subsequently proved exaggerated. Even the prospect of an order for 96 aircraft was a considerable achievement in these circumstances, however. In any event, some sources (including Lebanon's 'Tactical Report') suggest that talks with Dassault are continuing, and that Saudi Arabia may still opt for a two-fighter solution, with Rafale being acquired for a primary air-to-ground role. When Gulf News reported that Saudi Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz had revealed that Britain would 'buy back' more than 200 existing American and British fighters and would replace them with 200 Typhoons Rafale's chances in the Kingdom seemed to have taken a further 'knock'. An order for 72 Typhoons would not leave much room for a Saudi Rafale buy, while 200 would dash Dassault's hope of even the smallest order. The Typhoon order had still not been signed by March 2006, however, and so the campaign is not yet over.

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Costs

Total programme cost between €31.1 Bn (National Assembly €26 Bn + 19.5% VAT) and €35.1 Bn (National Assembly, 2005).

Other total costs reported include €33.27 Bn (National Assembly), or €34 Bn (Dassault).

This translates to a unit programme cost of between €106 m and €119.388 m.

Unit system cost FF 600 m (€ 91 m) €88 m Unit flyaway price (1997) FF 350 m (€53 m)

These costs make Rafale the cheapest of the current crop of fighters, while the claimed lack of cost growth since 1997 would make it the most tightly managed modern fighter programme. In eDefence Online, however, respected French aviation writer JM Guhl quoted "a list price given at some $66.5 million for the basic "naked" aircraft and almost $145 million with its complete set of sensors and weapons."

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Problems

The Rafale is an almost unparallelled achievement for a single nation, as equivalent fighter programmes have been undertaken by much larger companies or collaboratively by several nations. As an aircraft to meet French requirements (combining a robust carrier capability and good air-to-ground potential) Rafale could not be bettered, while the programme's unilateral nature afforded great focus, and protected it from many of the political factors which have so dogged the rival Eurofighter. Any problems (and those listed here are disputed) should be viewed in this light.

There have, however, been increasingly critical comments about Rafale from members of the National Assembly's Finance and Defence Commissions, and there have been reports of disagreements between Dassault and DGA about cost increases and obsolescence. According to Defence Analysis (p.17, Vol 8.No.12 December 2005) Dassault have called the RBE2 radar 'fatally flawed' alleging that its range was "inadequate" and averring that the Rafale therefore relied on AWACS support to overcome this. The DGA also described Rafale's OSF ("Optronique Secteur Frontal") as "obsolescent" and production has been cut back to just 48 units, rather than the planned number, which was to have been sufficient to equip all F1 and F2 versions.

While UK and German newspapers have been energetic in their criticism of Typhoon, Rafale has enjoyed a much gentler ride, and many of Rafale's problems (which have been similar in nature, scope and extent to those suffered by the rival Eurofighter) have seldom emerged until long after they were solved, or remain unsubstantiated rumour, though there have been exceptions. According to Defense News, Air Force Gen. Eric Rouzaud revealed that early deliveries of the Rafale were prone to a software glitch that cut out part of the flight system, requiring the pilot to hit the reset button. The fault has been fixed, Rouzaud said.

There were reports that problems with the "Central Processor" led to only three of five Rafales being delivered during 2004, and suggestions that the same problem led to a shortfall of deliveries (against the planned schedule) in 2005.

There was a two year delay in signing the production contract for the 59 F2 standard Rafales, and the order due to be placed in 2006 has dropped from 82 aircraft (65 AdlA, 17 Aéronavale) to just 66 (48 AdlA, 18 Aéronavale) (according to the Vincon Senate report). The Pintat report indicated that this reduced order has also been slipped to 2007.

Still subject to delays, the Rafale (once progressing well ahead of the rival Eurofighter) has still not entered full operational service with the Armée de l'Air, and less than a dozen are in use with the French Air Force for trials, evaluation and conversion training with EC330. Though the aircraft entered operational service with the Aéronavale in 2004 Flotille 12 still has only 9 Rafales (less than a full Flotille) and is currently limited to Air-to-Air combat (F1 software/hardware standard). There are concerns that operational loads (especially in the long range air to surface role) will be limited by the present engine's relatively modest thrust.

A "Post F3" configuration is now being discussed, this will be fitted with an active array radar, which is necessary to fully exploit the MBDA Meteor.

More controversially, some sources (including Francis Tusa's industry newsletter, Defence Analysis) maintain that the aircraft compares unfavourably with Eurofighter's Typhoon in the air to air role, though this is vigorously denied in other quarters. Though it uses a modern and extremely efficient canard Delta configuration, Rafale has been accused of being hampered by an old fashioned and 'cumbersome' Man Machine Interface, and it has been further suggested that this was the main reason behind the type's rejection by South Korea and Singapore.

According to Defence Analysis and Flight Daily News, the Singapore evaluation also reportedly revealed problems with Rafale's reliability and availability, and that the aircraft failed to demonstrate claimed radar performance or its claimed ability to supercruise. Singapore was also reportedly unimpressed by Rafale's much vaunted "Omni role" capability. "Show us, properly" was said to have been the reaction, according to Defence Analysis. The lack of official comment by Singapore leads many to dismiss such criticism as unreliable hearsay, however.

If criticism of under-powered engines and the passive electron-scan radar (which Defence Analysis say is viewed by many as a technological dead end) is to be overcome, Dassault badly need to fund the advanced F3 variant, but this is unlikely to happen quickly without an export customer (according to Aviation Week and Space Technology). A fully-developed F3 would, however, seem much more likely to gain export success. In January 2005 it was announced that eight aircraft would be cut from French orders specifically to free up funding for advanced radar development, while Meteor integration is also being accelerated.

Whatever Rafale's supposed "weaknesses" it must be acknowledged that the type has been quietly gathering real operational experience in the air-to-air role since the first Rafale Ms were delivered to the Aéronavale, and this alone is a significant advantage, giving the type great credibility. Moreover, while development of some competing aircraft has often been delayed because manufacturers have been unwilling to press ahead "at risk" the relationship between Dassault and the French government and military has allowed the development programme to press ahead at a ferocious pace.

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