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Rafale (France)

The Rafale is a very impressive twin-engine supersonic, deltawing with canards fighter jet, developed by the French company Dassault Aviation for the French Air Force and Navy. The Rafale design characterisez by the superior aerodynamics, avionics and engine thrust. The rafale can be armored with air-to-air weapons and air-to-ground weapons from French and USA origin.
The French ministry of defence has ordered 120 Rafale's (82 for the Air Force and 38 for the Navy) but will order more. The first version was the Rafale M which is already operational with the French Navy. On 25 June 2004 the first squadron became operational.
The Rafale M fighters will operate from the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. The Rafale has replaced the F-8 Crusader which is already out of service since the 90th. The first navy squadron came operational in 2004.

Demo op Le Bourget 2007


Specifications (Rafale)
Prime contractor Dassault (France)
Length 15.27 meters
Height 5.34 meters
Wingspan 10.80 meters
Wingsurface 45.70 square meters
Aspect ratio  
Engines 2x Snecma M88-2E1 engines with afterburner or the newer version M88-2E4
Thrust 11.250 to 17.000 lb
Weight (empty) 10 ton class
Weight (start, maximum, MTOW) 24.500 kg
Weight (landing, maximum)  
Cruisespeed  
Maximum speed > Mach 1.8
Ceiling 55.000 ft
Maximum range > 1000 nautical miles during an interceptor mission
Fuel capacity 4.700 kg (intern), 6.800 kg (extern)
Air-to-air-refueling + capacity Yes
Armament Standard: Defa 791 30-mm boardcanon
Mica air-to-air missiles, Scalp/Storm Shadow long-range stand-off missile, exocet anti-ship missiles, laser guided bombs, conventional air-to-surface bombs and user specify weapons
Future: AASM air-to-ground weapons, meteor long-range air-to-air missiles
Maximum weapon load 9 ton extern weapon load
Maximum G resistance +9G / -3.2G
Required runway length (start)  
Required runway length (landing) 450 meters
Type flight controls Fly-by-wire system: quadruple redundant with 3 digital channels and 1 seperate designed analog channel (no mechanical backup)
Landing gear 2 main gears, each with 1 tire, 1 nose gear with 2 tires
Versions Rafale M, Rafale C, Rafale B
Manufactured in production
Crew 1 or 2
Costs  
Operational since 2005
Successor of Navy: F-8 Crusader, Super-Etendard.
Air Force: Jaguar, Mirage F-1, Mirage 2000C, Mirage 2000 N en D, Mirage IV. (but not all aircraft are/have been replaced)
Users (current and future) France: Navy and Air Force, Marocco


  French Air Force  
     
  French Navy  
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Last updated: June 4th, 2009