Links :

http://www.challenges.fr/actualites/entreprises/20100211.CHA1320/les_bresiliens_visitent_les_sites_du_rafale_chez_dassau.html?xtor=RSS-16

and

http://news.combataircraft.com/readnews.aspx?i=600
:p

MISC.

First a simple view of the Rafale’s composition.
The tail fin has an aluminium leading edge which
ain’t so good but that alu box on top of it ( SPECTRA )
is supposed to help reducing the RCS, hopefully by
more than its own “print”, LOL.

Then a general view with the ducts showing some :

http://frenchnavy.free.fr/aircraft/rafale/images/rafale-019.jpg

And this nice introductory paper from reputable people :

http://www.aoe.vt.edu/~mason/Mason_f/ConfigAeroStealth.pdf

I could not resist giving this along altough not related :

http://i20.servimg.com/u/f20/09/02/08/99/sans_t10.jpg

And i really like them a whole lot but, seriously,
THIS IS NOT DISCREET :

😉

…

YOU are the one who should write to LM & ask how they could have possible spent two years & $6.2 billion on SWAT only to have the result be F-35s of the EXACT SAME weight or heavier (depending on which numbers YOU are fooled by) as they were BEFORE.

Well, quite simply, your plane fattens from design stage on and gets a tad
more metal here then we thought would suffice and that comm equipment
is a couple kilos heavy and we all know that Americans get fatter every
year so Martin-Baker has to make a much sturdier seat for them nearly
300 pounds pilots and then, you put in the time and money needed to
bring back your birdie to where it was supposed to be in the first place!

Just about like gettin’ tha wife to join the gym and get
your girlfriend back after a few months, LOL!

To add to what swerve and jbritchford said, it is a real concern
with their mentioned add. structural weight and fuel that the bird can
come back on the boat with it. Assuming that something goes wrong
soon after take-off, you can ditch those UW fuel tanks easily but
without proper low speed lift, you’d have to drown a pair of AMRAAMs
as well and that would not please Navy accountants any!

Just a thought…

but maybe those job numbers are based on the full
complement of 120+ planes?

Got it!

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/article-view/release/111606/boeing-wins-%24324m-to-upgrade-french-e_3f-awacs-aircraft.html

and

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/article-view/release/112008/boeing-wins-%24324m-upgrade-of-french-e_3f-awacs-fleet.html

🙂

Some more…

semi-news ( as in half-truths, lol ) :

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=fr&sl=pt&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dimensao.com.br%2F%3Fsessao%3Dmaterias%26id%3D12201

http://www.dimensao.com.br/?sessao=materias&id=12201

and

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=fr&sl=pt&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newslog.com.br%2Fartigosnoticias%2Fgo.asp%3FID%3D923813

http://www.newslog.com.br/site/default.asp?TroncoID=907492&SecaoID=508074&SubsecaoID=483908&Template=../artigosnoticias/user_exibir.asp&ID=923813&Titulo=Analistas%20comparam%20aspectos%20t%E9cnicos%20de%20ca%E7as

Some guy suggested that Carla Bruni got a free manucure while in Brazil
which was a bribe to settle the deal………..ROFLMAO!

ROFLMAO.

Concorde, Jaguar, Gazelle, Lynx, Scalp/Storm Shadow…
whomever wants to put patriotism ahead of history and truth,
go, please go at it again and show us your “intelligence”
some more.

Our British cousins ( since 1066 ) have been talking about
Raffys since at least 2006 as an alternative to getting ripped
off by their beloved American offspring.
In all logic, that may very well have been a way to increase
pressure in the US cooker and yet…

If the RN wanted it, the transformation of their upcoming CVs
into full CATOBAR would likely reopen the now closed cooperation
on the second MN one!

Forget the 40+% of idiots be they ours, yours or theirs, in service,
newsmangling or parliament.
Heck, on another forum, i kept getting hassled by this guy
who said that GERMANY would never cooperate with France
because France makes only **** in mili domain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOL, probably never heard of EADS/AIRBUS/EUROCOPTER nor the
Franco-German brigade nor the rest like MUSIS for instance!

I wonder how much of this would be discussed here and now
if the US was more “honest” in dealing with its allies in tech
and the F-35 program was doing as fine as some of its proponents
still maintain?

Good day all, Britons, Welsh, Scots and Irish in particular!

All agreed but the tech part, Jonesy!