It is much more cost effective and as effective in terms of results to go with one rafale for both strike and AtA than a typhoon+tornado or a mirage 2000D+mirage 2000-5.

You are paying billions of pounds for an aircrafts that has no real use.

Besides you can’t compare an AASM to paveways. With AASM you can fire at 6 different targets in one pass at stand off distance (+ over the shoulder capability). With paveways your are much more vulnerable. That is quite a significant capability gap.

Don’t forget about Recce which plays a significant role in this conflict.

In the end you dodge the rafale and typhoon comparison by saying the RAF has the capability overall (with tornadoes). Try to explain that to an export customer…He is buying an aircraft, not the RAF.

“interoperability” is quite a vague concept. For Nato, as long as you have link16, Rover datalink and Nato standard pylons you are interoperable. All modern western fighters are interoperable in this respect (NATO compatible).

As for india, with the mirage 2000 upgrade with Mica and AASM, the rafale will become more interoperable than the Typhoon. For the rest you must adapt to indian standards and I don’t think that any of the (western) competotors have an edge on another. The fact that the idians already uses mirages and previous Dassault fighters tend to seaks for the rafale as the procedures (maintenance, supplier relationship etc) is already well known by indians.

@PhantomII

There is a very nice video of the CdG and its air wing for the Lybian campain :
aircrafts footage starts around 2’20.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhrjzo_libye-appareillage-et-montee-en-puissance-du-porte-avions-charles-de-gaulle_news

You can see Damocles on rafale as well.
A big share of the missions are also Recce with the AEROS pod.

Perhaps to spare the pilot’s life ? although unlikely.

A Galeb kill with an AASM while the lybian jet was landing ! The french touch…

Also 2*rafale from the AdA, 2*mirage 2000D and 2*rafale M on a massive SCALP attack on a Lybian AFB.

Other mirage 2000D and SuE missions with GBU12 over Lybia reported by the french daily press conference.

I guess it is how they managed to strike opportunity targets (tanks) with the GPS/INS guided AASM.

I think this is coherent with “the positive ID” they insist during the AdA conference after the first strikes.

mirage 2000D and 2000C in corsica (Solenzara)