In the mid 1970s European nations, and in particular the French Air Force and Navy required a new generation of fighters to counter the Soviet threat.
Dispite the collapse of the Soviet Union the French forces still need more advanced fighters to replace there old Mirages.
The Rafale is now being produced for the French Air Force, and the Rafale M for the Navy, which can withstand the rough carrier landings.
The Rafale is produced in three variants - M, B and C; the single-seat M version for the Navy, Rafale B is a two-seat version for the Air Force, and the C variant, a single-seat fighter for the Air Force.
The "Rafale A" technology demonstrator was build in 1984-1985 and performed its first flight on 4 July 1986. It retired in 1994, with prototypes for operational Rafales taking its place in the flight test program.
First flight of a production Rafale, an M variant, was in July 1999, it landed on the new French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle
Initial service deliveries of the Rafale M were in December 2001, with the first Aeronavale Rafale M squadron fully operational, on the Charles DeE Gaulle aircraft carrier, in the summer of 2002. As with the EuroFighter, the Rafale is going into service in a phased fashion:
- The first Rafales to be delivered are configured to "F1" standard, which only includes capabilities for air-to-air combat and a baseline avionics suite.
- The first few production Rafale M's, which were put into service in a relative hurry, were delivered in a "sub-F1" standard designated "LF1", which featured an older mission computer lacked the built-in cannon. The LF1 machines have since been improved to F1 standard.
- The "F2" standard will add strike capabilities, and the F2 Rafale M's will also be able to carry a buddy tanker pod.
- The definitive "F3" standard will bring the Rafale up to full multirole operational capability, with implementation of all currently planned modes for the RBE2 radar, adding AASM capability, as well as missions such as nuclear strike, with the ASMP or ASMP-A; antiship attack with the Exocet or ANF; and reconnaissance with the Reco NG pod. The F3 standard will also add DVI, the helmet-mounted sight, and support for an improved tanker pack.
All F1 and F2 standard Rafales will be brought up to F3 standard in the course of scheduled high-level maintenance.
The Navy expects to receive its first F3-standard full multirole single-seat Rafale M in 2007. All 60 Navy fighters are expected to be delivered by 2012.
The Rafale is powered by two SNECMA M88-2 turbofans which have a dry thrust of 11,000 pounds and 17,000 afterburning each. In order to further reduce fuel consumption and increase the service life of the engine's critical parts (high-pressure core and afterburner), SNECMA has developed a new version of the M88-2, called the M88-2E4. This new version offers improved fuel consumption (2 to 4 % lower than the M88-2E1). As of 2005 all M-88 engines deployed in France comply with this new standard.
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Specifications
| Version | Rafale |
| Length | 33.8ft 15,27m |
| Height | 17,4ft 5,34m |
| Wingspan | 35.4ft 10,80m |
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Dassault Rafale Videos | 288 Videos Available!
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This page was last updated on: 2006-03-11
