{"id":1072,"date":"2015-05-05T01:58:57","date_gmt":"2015-05-05T01:58:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theme-sphere.com\/smart-mag\/?p=1072"},"modified":"2015-06-15T04:21:10","modified_gmt":"2015-06-15T07:21:10","slug":"frances-rafale-on-the-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/2015\/05\/05\/frances-rafale-on-the-go\/","title":{"rendered":"France\u2019s Rafale on the go!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The Rafale is today the only modern fighter plane designed in Europe to be fully combat proven in all types of mission, from reconnaissance to deep penetration stand-off assault (with the AASM SBU-38 guided rocket bomb), not to forget air superiority. \u00a9 Arm\u00e9e de l’Air<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a long decade of moderate if not sedate trade export activity, averaging between \u20ac5 and \u20ac6 billion annually, the year 2015 has brought forward a sudden and repeated favorable sales outcome for the French defense aerospace industry and particularly for Dassault Aviation and its iconic Rafale fighter plane which has beyond doubt pushed out of the limelight all other world players. In a mere three months, eighty-four Rafales have been firmly sold on the export market. First to Egypt with 24 aircraft last February, followed in early April by 36 to India \u2014 this country acquiring three dozens Rafales in a thunderbolt deal intended to fulfill an Indian Air Force urgent operational requirement \u2014 and again with 24 for Qatar in a contract signed in Doha on last 4 May, including 12 more aircraft in option. While further Rafale sales to India are still expected along the lines of a trade agreement that should see, by the start of next decade, the aircraft produced by Hindustan Aircraft Limited under a wide technology transfer accord, the sun is definitely rising on France\u2019s commanding \u201comni-role\u201d fighter plane which is also a pilot\u2019s dream for all those who have flown this aircraft in operation. <\/p>\n

\"Over<\/a>
Over 300 Rafales have been ordered so far from France and the recent export contracts will mean that a necessary ramp up in aircraft production \u2014 from the current 11 per year to 22 or more \u2014 should take place rapidly, meaning that all subcontractors involved are now engaged in a war against time to meet the delivery deadline ! \u00a9 Dassault Aviation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Never two without three<\/strong>
\nQuite interesting is to point that these export sales have all been secured with air arms already flying the Dassault Mirage 2000, a fighter plane which 30 years ago was the only non-U.S. jet to use a fully advanced \u00ab fly-by wire \u00bb control system. India and Egypt being what they are, leading political nations in Asia and Africa, it makes absolutely no doubt that the Rafale is now only at the beginning of its export career. More countries will follow over the years to come. And principally with nations not willing to buy either from the United States or Russia or even China.<\/p>\n

If much of Dassault Aviaton\u2019s export success is linked to the attribute that the Rafale is today a battle proven aircraft with outstanding combat capabilities \u2014 something demonstrated both in the French Air Force and in France\u2019s A\u00e9ronavale services \u2014, needless to say that there always exists a \u00ab man in the loop \u00bb when dealing with such a far-reaching subject than selling to foreign countries first line and hi-tech critical weapons. What\u2019s more against very strong international competition and athwart political lobbying. For France, the man in the loop is in fact a tandem, one made by president Fran\u00e7ois Hollande and his close councelor Jean-Yves Le Drian, France\u2019s hard working minister of Defence. The men\u2019s relentless and wary team endeavour to promote the Rafale on the export market has finally paid off after three years of diplomatic toil, providing in the process much welcome oxygen to France\u2019s high valued defence industry. Particularly in a country which has witnessed over the past two decades, thanks to the European Union\u2019s fatuous policy and remiss national politicians, the destruction of millions of manufacturing jobs.<\/p>\n

\"During<\/a>
During the next decade, French Air Force Rafales will be able to work in combination with unmanned attack drones (UCAV) such as the unique nEUROn demonstrator which has allowed Dassault Aviation and its European partners to muster highly advanced knowledge in stealthiness and automation techniques. \u00a9 Dassault Aviation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A 300 Rafale fighters production<\/strong>
\nTo date, the combined purchases of France, Egypt, India and Qatar mean that the 200 Rafale production mark is now looming in the distance for the multirole and potent fighter plane. France\u2019s latest procurement law having reduced the number of Rafales which should by 2025 equip the French Air Force and the French Navy (225 in total instead of the 320 aircraft expected initially back in 1992), a grand total of over 300 Rafales has now been ordered, including export ; and even more if we include options. A very positive result for Dassault Aviation and a true success for the French industry with Thales, Safran (Snecma and Sagem) and MBDA united in the \u201cRafale Team\u201d along with Dassault. As a matter of fact, along the lines of the latest Rafale F3R standard, production of AESA radars and SPECTRA EW suites, M88 turbofans, AASM rocket-bombs, plus Mica and Meteor air-to-air missiles are expected to boom until 2025 at least, with a likely ramp up in Rafale production to reach three aircraft per month, as customers like Egypt and India are obviously in a hurry.<\/p>\n

The first three first Rafales for Egypt are to be delivered next July. And the initial deliveries to India should take place next year. Qatar will have to wait until mid-2018 to receive its first Rafales. Already Egyptian and Indian aviators have arrived in Saint Dizier (Base A\u00e9rienne 113) and Mont-de-Marsan (Base A\u00e9rienne 118) for training on the French jet and its advanced systems.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A Rafale C of R\u00e9giment de Chasse 2\/30 ‘Normandie-Ni\u00e9men\u201d pictured during the recent national air exercise VOLFA 15-2. The French Air Force Rafale fleet has recently been retrofitted with updated EW systems and new radios. Complementing the Thales Spectra multi-spectral threat 360 degrees warning system against hostile radars, missiles and lasers, the new DDM-NG ‘eye” can be spotted on top of the fin, as is the dorsal blade antenna of the new V\/UHF suite doubling the original UHF set for air-to-ground communications. The largest new sensor onboard the Rafale is the Thales Active Electronically Scanned Array AESA RBE2 radar located behind the nose cone. The new radar provides the Rafale with a capability to track all targets in the radar field of view, irrespective of the relative location between targets and host aircraft. \u00a9 J.-M. Guhl<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a long decade of moderate if not sedate trade export activity, averaging between \u20ac5 and \u20ac6 billion annually, the year 2015 has brought forward a sudden and repeated favorable sales outcome for the French defense aerospace industry and particularly for Dassault Aviation and its iconic Rafale fighter plane which has beyond doubt pushed out<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-defense"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1072"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2165,"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1072\/revisions\/2165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}