October 5, 2009 at 2:11 pm
I’ve lost track of Rafale numbers. Can someone help me out?
I know that the total French requirement for the Rafale was originally 294 aircraft, 60 for the Marine Nationale, and 234 for the Armée de l’Air.
I know that the air force was expected to receive 122 two-seat Rafale Bs and 112 Rafale C single-seaters, the proportion of single-seaters having been increased (from what number?) to save money.
Of these 294 aircraft, I know that orders have been placed for 180 aircraft.
F1 consisted of 13 aircraft – one Rafale C (C101), two Bs (B301 and 302) and ten Ms (M1-M10).
How many of them were delivered as LF1s? How many of the Ms are stored now? What is the plan for them?
F2 consisted of 48 aircraft – seven Rafale C (C102-108), 25 Bs (B303-327) and 16 Ms (M11-M26).
The first order for F3s consisted of 59 aircraft
Was this eleven Bs (B328-338), 36 Cs (C109-144) and 12 Ms (M27-M38)?
But what of the famous eight aircraft for which funding was removed/deferred? What effect did this have on the numbers above? Will it now be a total of 286 aircraft (228 AdlA and 58 MN)? How many in F3:1? Only 51? What’s the new breakdown by variant if that’s the case?
The second, 2009 order for F3s consists of 60 aircraft. Nine of these are Ms (M39-47) and 51 are for the air force, but what is the breakdown going to be between Bs and Cs?
What were the serials of the lost aircraft? The air force loss and the two recent Navy losses?