arthuroIndeed that was a discussion from a specific type of radar associated to a specific aircraft. Not about the understanding of AESA technology which I am sure all main radar manufacturer including russians now master.
The idea for Thales is to keep this RBE2 aesa edge in investing on the GaN AESA technology (with the help of the french gov) as explained in the numerous recent Thales/DSI/Air et cosmos publications.
This technology is seen as strategic for the rafale because of its nuclear role. That means continuously investing on this type of technology with level of funding which could only be justified in regard to its strategic role for the french nation through the detterent role. Anyone who know a little bit about the french doctrine know what I am talking about.
arthuroI stick with my answer about knowledge management within the frame of a stable program. Having engineers growing within the RBE2 program for a decade is more efficient than skills being scattered in several programs which have all their own deadlines. There was very certainly a more direct funding and the program was lauched with a clear political will to equip the rafale with an aesa before the gripen and the typhoon.
Selex certainly masters all the principles and the technology but you have to understand that this is not enough to field a mature aesa fighter radar. You need years of testing, and refinements.
So it is not really about technology (perhaps a little bit?) but about the time to go from principles and technology understanding to a mature/working/operational/integrated aesa radar.
Here Tales is certainly a few years ahead not because they necessarly know more about technology but because they started testing earlier and with a more easy path to AESA with an already existing esa architecture. Even if Selex goes with a full scale development.
For the specific case of the Gripen NG AESA I see one limitation that is not linked to the technology of the radar in itself but linked to the more limited energy/electricity production of its single engine.
In fact I think you assumed that we said that Selex was lagging behind in terms of technology which is not our point. Perhaps our misunderstanding comes from here.
arthuroIndeed. Facts speak for themselves. That is not saying Selex will not be able to developp a mature fighter aesa radar but not in the same timeframe. I would say 2014-2015 at best.
arthuro@scorpion82
I am not saying that selex has no experience in AESA fighter radar. Just that they started latter with less funding and without the stable frame of an existing inline fighter radar like the RBE2 to gain more relevant experience and to manage the knowledge curb. With a stable RBE2 program and continuous development for the different rafale standard you certainly have a better exerince and knowledge management than scattered skills on different other radar programs. Diverting some knowledge ressources from other programs is not as easy as you would think as these prgrams have their own deadlines. So yes there are synergies but there is an inertia.
Given the clear political will with the road map rafale and the funding that goes with it there is no wonder Thales is a few years ahead. I dont think that selex is able to procure an operational aesa radar in less than one month !
PS : according to Thales and Air et Cosmos it is the pressure from dassault and the french government who lead to the withdrawal of Thales help for AESA radar on gripen.
And I am aware of the different phase of the program. The rafale flew with a US made aesa antenna for the rbe2 in 2003 to start software development.
arthuroRUAG partneship is part of the off set linked to the rafale export campain in Switzerland Jackjack. The rafale drop tanks are now made by RUAG also.
Paths for a future F4 standard
DSI May 2010
In 2019 or 2020 should start deliveries for tranche 5 Rafale, to be ordered late 2015. Already, the various stakeholders of the program are working to trace the contours of the standard – F4 – of these weapons systems. The PEA for exploring paths for capacitive improvements have started last fall. The aim is to commission a review of all areas, to examine every major system or equipment and try to evaluate which technology advances are expected to be at the rendez vous and those which couldn’t be. Or those for whom it will be be possible to justify and obtain budgetary credits and those for whom it will not be possible! This explains the contents of this future F4 standard is still no freezed. However, the operationals are almost already expressing the considerable importance to dispose of a viewfinder-HMD. In A2A, it would allow one rafale to launch its MICA on a hostile aircraft without having to roll up in a close dogfight, which requires to be rid of its load of bombs. So to be able to continue its A2G original mission.
Essential viewfinder-HMD.
Beyond, the airmen consider that the viewfinder-HMD would provide an added value in the field of air-ground support, allowing to design to the weapon system, with the cross of the HMD, a ground target which would be in lateral or rear area and not necessarily, as it is the case today, in the front line sector of the aircraft. Or to design, via the Link-16, the ground target to a team member taking over. Thales evoked the possibility of an efficient equipment for the Rafale coming from the current Tiger HMD . And it seems quite clear that such equipment is much anticipated by potential export customers of the Rafale.
In the A2G field , operationals intend to have a laser designation pods even more efficient than the Damocles just arrived today in the qualification phase. They want the capacity to determine from a 6000 m altitude if the individual located on the ground is armed or not. As for weapons, they evoke missille with double capacity air-ground and air-air. And for the AASM bombs, they emphasize the development, for the 250 kg bomb, of laser guidance in addition to the current route by GPS and inertial hybridized IR sensor, but also on the achievement for the 250 kg body , of modular charges adapted to various types of employment and target, for example to focus on the effects of detonation and reduce collateral damage. The operationals do not want the AASM 125 kg proposed by Sagem. However an AASM 1000 kg with the ability to penetrate bunkers and reinforced buildings is favorably mentioned.
The air-ground sensors of the weapon system should also provide very high definition modes to improve the tracking of ground target (GMTI GMTT modes for the radar) with more complex interweaving of air-ground and air- air modes (monitoring of aerial threats in various areas while providing a ground tracking function). In the A2A field, one will have to start thinking about the studies for a MICA successor and to improve a little more the capabilities for identification of non-cooperative target (NCTR). In the matter of data links, including the Link-16, one will have to make greater use of satellite links. And the sea serpent of steering nozzle for the M88 is discussed again. It is also question of developing a stealth kit. Work will be launched to reduce the RCS by modifying the coating of the cans under the Rafale.
INCAS [Insert New Additional Capacity for SPECTRA] for SPECTRA 5T.
Already, the authorities and industrials are preparing evolutions for SPECTRA , to allow it to remain very effective when will start coming the tranche 5 Rafale. The PEA INCAS (Insert New Additional Capacity for SPECTRA), notified last September by the DGA to Thales Airborne Systems and MBDA, is indeed preparing SPECTRA 5T. The real challenge, according to Thales engineers, is to think, not only about the original equipment on board the new tranche 5 Rafale, but also about the retrofit in the framework of a prospective site to put this future new standard for the rest of the fleet including the first Rafale delivered.
An ambition much more delicate than it seems at first glance, because it need to evolve SPECTRA within acceptable limits – volume, mass, energy, cable, Interactions – by the first Rafale series, although their architecture has been conceived in the late 1980s. This requires, according to Thales officials, treasures of cunning and ingenuity. We must keep reaching an extreme interchangeability. Because the great longevity planned for the Rafale actually complicates the task. One need to design systems, allowing them the opportunity to integrate with minimal impact new technologies able to cope with post-2020 or even 2030 threats, still not easily discernible. As now formulated, the fundamental objective of SPECTRA 5T is therefore to be able to detect, even further, more discreet and even furtive threats.
How? by integrating, at the air entrances more efficient EM broadband receptors. Unlike current SPECTRA, with receivers still mixing analog and digital, those of SPECTRA 5T will be entirely digital. Which, incidentally, will facilitate transport and data management. More, added to future new processing algorithms, this increased “digitization” of equipement should provide a significant improvement in terms of sensitivity and angular measurement, with the added advantage of greater receptor compactness . This will allow, with equal volume, to much more! It is certainly delicate, given the sensitivity of the topic,to enter further into the details of improvements in matter of performance and functionality. But it must be very clear: according to Thales engineers, it is a revolution for technology and capability at the same level as it is for the RBE2 Radar evolving from a passive PESA antenna to the active AESA.The GaN revolution.
This “revolution” also relates to jamming equipment for the future SPECTRA 5T. These transmitters, integrated at the top of the drift and the forward fuselage, near the apices and before the canard, will benefit from the integration of a new technology the gallium nitride (GaN) to replace the arsenide gallium currently used. The use of this broadband semiconductor, still unique within the European Union, very hard and with a very high thermal capacity, is expected to reduce significantly the electrical consumer and heating for a given power. The solid state antennas will provide a much greater lens precision with a very narrow emission beam. Note that to avoid any risk of external pressure on eventual Rafale export sales, the GaN components, like the gallium arsenide modules already used for the new RBE2 active antenna ,will be produced in France by a factory of the Franco-German company ( EADS / Thales joint-venture) UMS. The Thales engineers are also working to modify the current distribution between reception and jamming functions in SPECTRA. With, for example, the idea to integrate, for SPECTRA 5T, a multisignal RF receiver within the jammers. Viewing similarities between jammers and receivers components, such an approach would be technologically feasible and, potentially, would provide interesting synergies. Nevertheless, the collocation of such equipment would introduce real technical difficulties – EM compatibility -, though perfectly manageable. This pass, to avoid to perturb the receiver with collocated jamming emission, by appealing different waveforms for each equipment, with a wider range of frequence than currently employed on Spectra and with the implementation of active filters. In contrast, the locations and volumes vested to such equipment would remain unchanged from today. No way to modify anything in the aerodynamics of the aircraft or to impact the structure of the cell. Similarly, these changes would occur at energy isoconsumption [same energy consumption]. Asked whether the integration of tracted active EM decoys – in use with F/A-18E/F, B-1 and Typhoon – could be an interesting track for SPECTRA 5T, Thales engineers , as also the operationals, replied by expressing doubts about the broad effectiveness of the formula. It is difficult to re-roll the lure in flight and it must be dropped before landing. Hooked from a certain distance behind the carrier, it could allow a foreign fire control to recognize it as a decoy and, paradoxically, to facilitate the detection of the real target. Certainly, the tracted active EM jammer provides good angular jamming. But the SPECTRA ability to use jamming in cooperative mode – mode still insufficiently cleared by the operationals – is expected to balance the absence of tracted decoys on the Rafale.What is almost certain, however, is that SPECTRA 5T will implement dropped active EM lures . They should be able to simulate the RCS of a Rafale and to track, thanks to the deployment of a small wing, a trajectory similar to the simulation of an airplane. This had already been the subject of studies and demonstration trials during the 1990s. It seems that the expected performance of these “dropped” lures are higher than those tracted. Nevertheless, studies will be launched to assess the interest of the latter. The carriage of additional IR cartridges on some external payload points is also expected. Although the PEA INCAS has been notified in November 2009, the study of the SPECTRA 5T architecture system have already made good progress. Suitable demonstrators for various equipment should begin to work next year. J.-L ®
arthuroI think you are seeing evil with no reasons. It is not really a serious attack as I reckognize that selex has all the ressource and skills necessary to developp a mature aesa fighter radar. I just say that they have sarted development later with a smaller pool of engineers and with less direct funding. I think that this is a fact. Selex is not going to deliver an operational fighter aesa radar before a few years.
On an other hand Thales has less experience than Raytheon and NG in fighter aesa radar. I am not saying Thales is above everything. Just that compared to Selex it is a few years ahead in this aera.
arthuroGCC defence spending seen rising 20% by 2015
Arabian Business , July 12
[…]
Sources close to the defence sector also told Arabian Business that it was likely the UAE will confirm a deal with France to upgrade its air force to the new Rafale jet fighter during the Farnborough Air Show later this month. The deal could be worth as $7bn.
[…]
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/592503-gcc-defence-spending-seen-rising-20-by-2015
arthuroThales To Deliver AESA Radars Soon
DefenseNews, July 6
PARIS – Thales will begin deliveries in August of the first production batch of active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars for the fourth tranche of Rafale strike fighters, Pierre-Yves Chaltiel, head of electronic combat systems, said July 6.
A relative maturity in production of the AESA sensor allows Thales to launch the Searchmaster range of derivative products, which uses the active array technology. A compact version will be sold for UAVs and helicopters, and a larger model for medium-altitude, long-endurance drones, ground surveillance and maritime patrol aircraft, Chaltiel said.
The delivery of AESA production units marks the culmination of some 12 years’ work and more than one billion euros ($1.3 billion) of government and industry investment, he told journalists ahead of the Farnborough airshow, which opens July 19.
It has taken “more than 10 years’ effort to get to this stage,” he said.
In the world market, only three industrial teams could claim this level of technological maturity, namely Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, Boeing and Raytheon, and Dassault Aviation and Thales, he said.
An AESA radar will significantly boost operational capabilities for the Rafale in terms of range, interception, tracking a multithreat environment and also improve countermeasures.
The technology will allow for the first time the same active array to be used for the radar and countermeasures.”It will be the only European aircraft with this capability,” he said.
The AESA radars will equip the fourth tranche of 60 Rafales ordered by the Direction Générale pour l’Armement (DGA) procurement office at the end of 2009. No financial details were available. A preproduction batch of three AESA radars have flown on the Falcon, Mirage 2000 and Rafale.
The tranche-four Rafales will operate at the F3 standard and the first AESA-equipped squadron is expected to be operational in 2012.
Some five or six countries have shown interest in the Searchmaster concept, which could be delivered in two years for the compact model and five years for the larger version.
The I-Master radar developed for the British Watchkeeper tactical UAV has drawn interest from the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, Chaltiel said.
Chaltiel outlined the technology roadmap for developing the AESA radar, which uses a patented cloud technology receiver module system, intended to allow insertion of new technology over the next 20 years without requiring extensive recertification.
As said Selex is not quoted as being part of the manufacturer able to produce a mature/working/operational AESA fighter radar. It will one day as they have the ressource in terms of knowledge, but it is still some years behind. Selex started later, with less direct funding and with a smaller pool of engineers working on AESA fighter. No wonder the Brazilian are calling into question the preformance of the radar and that the Gripen NG was never in a position to win conversely to the SH and the rafale. The weight of each different criteria as changed but not the technical evaluation in itself. Therefore the gripen NG is first when it deserves to be like ToT but last for technology.
Selex as no frontline modern ESA fighter radar in service in a first tier fighterjet. That is easy to understand that they are behind Raytheon/F22/F16/F35, NG/SH and Thales/Rafale.
When you have engineers growing within a single radar program like the RBE2 for more than a decade of development, testing and trimming sure they is a nice knowledge curb. Even in terms of interpersonnal relationship it is important. People know each other as there is a stable management for the RBE2 program. That is not the case if you take all the AESA program of selex or other thales AESA programs. There are synergies of course but nothing comparable to a ten year program with a dedicated management. Experience is something hardly measurable but you have some important factor that you can easily grasp. Also we are talking about 1B. euros of direct funding in total…I dont think that it comes antwhere that close in term of money spent for selex aesa fighter radar program.
That is just common sens. If you had work in the industry you would understand this.
arthuroWe are not saying Selex has no experience but less relevant experience than Thaled is AESA fighter radar.
When you already have a frontline fighter ESA product for ten years (and AESA EW) and testing AESA fighter radar since 2003 you have of course a bigger pool of engineers which have gain relevant experience on this matter. The people who started to work on the RBE2 PESA and that are now working on the AESA since several years had a much more efficient learning/knowledge curb.
Selex have all the skills necessary to make an AESA fighter radar no doubt. But they started latter, with less direct funding and very probably a much smaller pool of engineers with direct experience in fighter AESA radar although some mihgt have worked on AESA radar for other application just like Thales.
Anyone who has an actual professional experience in the industry would understand this. Knowledge curb and experience is aquired with time when people grow in a project.
The gripen NG is, as the brazilian eval leaks reveal, much further from a mature operationnal stage that SAAB would like to advertise. It takes more than a few slide shows and sound impressive bullet points to be credible. There is a demonstrator…But it is perhaps not as close to become a mature products that some wanted to believe.
arthuroBetter to answer you with sources to start on good basis.
From Pedro Paulo Rezende, a well-know Brazilian Journalist (Correio Braziliense / Valor econômico / Jane’s defence weekly) :
Because of complaints that came to my knowledge I went to check on the ground if there were changes in the report issued by the Navy regarding the use of the Rafale on board the Sampa [Sao Paulo aircraft carrier]. Monday afternoon, friends of MB [Brazilian Navy] and FAB gave me access to the document submitted to Defence Minister and which contains the explanatory memorandum which will be submitted to President Lula.
The signature of the commanders of the two forces certifies that they are original. Some points:
1. From the Sao Paulo, the Rafale can operate with only 40% of its capacity [payload], which could be minimized with a refueling after takeoff;
2. The F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is unable to operate our aircraft carrier. Its dry weight is beyond the capacity of the wiring, Its length is greater than that of elevators and catapults would not be able to launch it;
3. Even the Gripen navy, which exists only in theory, can only function with a capacity of 80%.The document prepared by the Navy contains verbatim the explanatory memorandum and indicates that the 3 would operate smoothly with the future aircraft carrier class of 50000 tons to be operated by the Navy. This material, prepared by COPAC and reviewed by the High Command of Aeronautics has been valided. What has changed are the weights assigned to each element. A good example: in the original settings, established in 1995, the weight of technology transfer was 9%. In contrast, the weight of price and maintenance costs were 30 and 40%. No wonder the F/A-18E/F was the winners of the process. The generals have pushed the engineers to accept what they had established themselves as a rule! Jobim returned because that does not meet the assumptions of the new END [national defense strategy .. which favors technological independance]
In the new criteria established with the national defense strategy, the technology package is now worth 40%. It is worth noting that the recalculation of the scores have been prepared by COPAC. In the process, ended 75 days ago [!], the Rafale has emerged as the winner because it has scored regularly on all points.[…] Others competitors scored excellent on some points, but showed a weak performance [latimavel?] in others.
The Super Hornet has been heavily penalized by U.S. law, which prohibits the government from establishing compensation with other states. Everything depends only from the manufacturers, who can not afford the purchase of aircraft for the armed forces of Uncle Sam, for example. For its part, the Gripen present higher risks, according COPAC itself . The Swedes could not even show a spreadsheet about the costs of the F-414 because it was copyrighted by the U.S. Navy. Just to give you an idea, the volume of pages about this issue is equivalent to the amount of pages used to describe the risks of the two others competitors.
There are doubts about the performance of the radar, on the sustainability of the cell, on the implementation of the program and also some devastating certainties, like the fact that, with limited interior space and a lower capacity of energy production , the Gripen offers smaller developments than its competitors. Boys, I read it: written by Copac itself! Furthermore, it was rated slightly higher than the Rafale on the issue of technology transfer, but not enough to overcome its weaknesses and achieve trade compensation by france, which guarantees the purchase of 12 KC-390 and the participation of Dassault in the Embraer program.About the explanatory memorandum, it is a masterpiece from a methodological point of view. Each phrase refers to an attached document, including the explanatory memorandum sent in December by the Air Force Command, which uses color coding to highlight the strengths, weaknesses, and the median for each unit … [Exactly what said Istoe… some leaks were more credible than others ..]
For health reasons, I moved away from the forums. […] I hope I have been helpful to the debate.Moreover, the Navy will operate 48 aircraft on its two units in the future.
Abracos
Pepe
ISTOE :
The cost of the advance
It takes the government to decide which game will equip the Air Force delays plans for defense of the country and threatens the credibility of the negotiations with the three finalists
Claudio Dantas Smith and Octavio Costa
FIGHTING Factory Dassault: 36 fighters would cost $ 10 billion
The competition for the purchase of 36 fighter jets by the FAB, estimated at $ 10 billion, seems an endless novel. In the latest chapter, the Defense Minister Nelson Jobim announced further postponement in the selection of fighters, this time to January 2010. It said the reasons for and command of the FAB remain silent so as not to break the hierarchy. The cost of this uncertainty is enormous, because it affects not only the credibility of the negotiations and delay the defense plans of the country, which sees its airspace vulnerable. “You can not stay in this litany. Whether the political criterion, either by coach, you need to resolve them, “said retired Colonel Geraldo Cavagnari, the Center for Strategic Studies at Unicamp. He explains that, once decided to purchase, will run six months until the contract is signed. For the analyst of international security Gunther Rudzītis is necessary to prevent a repeat of the failure of the FX program, held over the last year of the Cardoso government, and finally canceled in 2003. Brazil is in urgent need of a generation of fighter aircraft to ensure the safety of the heavens and their wealth in the territorial sea. ISTOÉ obtained confidential details of the offers of the finalists: the French Rafale from Dassault, the American F-18 Super Hornet, Boeing, and the Swedish Gripen NG, the Saab.
The report shows the FAB strengths and weaknesses of each plane using a color code (blue, yellow and red) instead of notes.
Of the three, the French jet introduced technology package more comprehensive and Swedish appears at first sight, had the best price. Your unit value, without the package of armaments and maintenance costs, is U.S. $ 50 million. It would be a good deal, not for the Gripen NG only one project in development. This makes it impossible to calculate their real costs and ensure compliance with deadlines. Despite the expectation of development together with Embraer, the dome of Defense knows that choosing the Gripen NG would be like signing a blank check. FAB this item marked in red. “You can not buy what is on the drawing board,” warns Cavagnari. In fact, the historical records of the airline industry in the world attest to the instability of estimates on a plane is not yet operational. The F-18 Super Hornet, for example, showed average growth of 100% between the amount originally planned pelosfabricantes and the final cost of the project, which reached U.S. $ 9.5 billion.
SHADOWS The French Rafale is a fighter with more ability to remain invisible to enemy radar
Nevertheless, the U.S. fighter is offered today at a stable price of $ 55 million. In the case of the Rafale, to be fully operational, it took 7.5 billion euros (U.S. $ 10.9 billion), a difference of 50% over the initial estimate. Your unit price without arms and support was 94 million euros ($ 136 million) when he began to be sold, but then fell to 54 million euros ($ 78 million). This is the value offered to Brazil in the last proposal and even practiced by Dassault with the French government. Besides the price issue, raised by President Lula during the visit of French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy ABrasilia in September, is at stake in the term. According Cavagnari, the defense sector is in the process of dismantling advanced, which began in 1995. “We have immediate needs of air power that must be addressed,” he explains. Then there is another problem. FAB to receive the first aircraft in 2014. Who guarantees to deliver the request in a timely manner? Dassault is in the production line of Rafale heated by new orders from the French government, which gives security to meet the deadlines. The Boeingtradição punctuality in sales of F-18. Already a Saab should take eight years to make their hunting operation. For example, the radar that will equip the Gripen began to be developed this year alone.
“To have an idea, Saab develops radar Caesar for the Typhoon fighter for five years and forecast to be ready is 2016. Now they say they can develop a similar radar, the Raven, to equip the Gripen NG, 2011. I find it unlikely, “said the expert Pedro Paulo Rezende. Another important point in the analysis of FAB is the cost of flight-hours. An airplane that consumes too much is not feasible in the long term. The time of flight of the F-18 is $ 11 thousand, while that of the Rafale is U.S. $ 14 mil. Since the Gripen, according to Saab, it would be $ 4 mil. But the Technical Committee of the FX-2 (Copac), from calculations based on data extrapolated maintenance Gripen C / D (prior to version NG), found a very different value: U.S. $ 8 mil. Similarly, Norway and the Netherlands, to assess the Swedish hunting, came to U.S. $ 10 mil. The divergence of information led to the FAB mark this item Gripen in yellow attention. The F-18 won blue for that matter, but reddened under “radar signature”, which means tracking by enemy radar. The Rafale, according to official figures, the game is more “invisible” among competitors.
Finaly what is clear is that in both edition of the evaluation the gripen was never in a position to win. “We have met the gripen NG…He is powerpoint” to mimic MacCristal about the taliban when attending a 1000th powerpoimt presentation about the situation in Astan (original : we have met the ennemy : he is powerpoint). SAAB was able to produce attractive slideshows but the real substance behind can be called into question as showed in the evaluation. Thales latest press release (see rafale thread) about the RBE2 AESA was like an echo to tackle selex. It took ten years and 1 billion of investement to make a mature and working AESA with the RBE2 ESA ans spectra AESA to gain experience. It is doubtfull that SAAB/Selex could come as easily and so quickly with a credible radar. Then there are some inherent constraint with the gripen size and single engine design. There is noway it can produce the same amount of electricity energy as the rafale or the SH. That as of course an impact on sensor performance and future upgrade.
Then there is the performance penalty when carriying a similar external load etc…
So great communication from SAAB but I feel it was in some aeras at least some kind of a ”bluff”. It takes more than a few slide show and ”sound impressive” bullet points.
arthuroBecause of the cost?
Yes and no. Every contender has something controversial according to the eval release. The rafale is the costliest but was ranked first for technology, the SH is bad at ToT with US restrictions but come at a normal price with a very good package, and the gripen while it is the cheapest and with the best ToT, it offers the least guarantees in the short/medium and long term and his the least capable of the three.
So really you can find arguments for or against any fighters in the competitions. That just a matter of point of view and how you weight the criteria against each others.
About backpedaling it was not my analysis but from brazilian industry observers.
arthuroWhy would it be more controversial than other options ?
PS : It must be noted that Dilma (Brazilian favorite for the presidency) already met Sarkozy as well as martine aubry (french opposing party leader) sevral weeks ago and the rafale was the main subject. So that is hardly a surprise for the french side as they are already preparing the post election period.
Secondly as already said by several articles, the selection process has already gone too far to backpedal and the brazilian industry is anticipating a rafale export (see embraer stance).
arthuroFrance Completes World’s First Vertical Strike Of Laser-Guided AASM
DefenseNews,
PARIS – France claimed a world-first vertical strike of a laser-guided AASM smart munition on July 9.
“The Direction Générale pour l’Armement (DGA) completed successfully Thursday June 17 2010 the first firing of an modular air to ground weapon (armament air sol modulaire – AASM) in a laser version at its Biscarosse site,” the procurement office said in a statement. “This firing of a laser guided munition with a vertical impact constitutes a world first,” the DGA said.
The firing was part of a feasibility study awarded to Safran group’s Sagem in 2008.
A Rafale strike fighter flying from the DGA test flight center fired the laser guided AASM out at sea at a height of 13,000 ft and 25 km from the target at the Biscarosse missile test center. The target, made up of concrete blocks, was designated by a ground laser placed a few hundred meters away. A GPS reading had been entered which deliberately gave coordinates several tens of meters away from the target, to see whether the laser guidance would correct the targeting.
A vertical strike is intended to reduce damage and deaths in urban use, the DGA said. This version is also intended to be use against moving targets at sea or on ground.
A laser version of the AASM follows the initial GPS/inertial-guided AASM propelled bomb, and an infrared model is currently undergoing operational and technical tests.
Tests of the laser AASM will continue in the year
arthuroFrench Air Force Rafales Go Nuclear
Ares blog, july 6
One July 1, the French air force’s Rafale strike fighter fleet was declared operationally ready in the nuclear strike mission.
The Rafale carries the MBDA ASMP-A missile for that purpose. The mission is assigned to the 1/91 fighter squadron at the Saint-Dizier base.
The development of the ramjet-powered ASMP-A has not been trouble-free, but French air force chief of staff Gen. Jean-Paul Palomeros says the weapon is meeting performance demands. And, he notes, it is the first time the country has fielded such a nuclear weapon without an actual nuclear test. (As far as is known, France is the first nation to accomplish this feat.)
The Rafale will supersede the Mirage 2000N in the nuclear role.
arthuroThales reveals ‘cloud’ concept for Rafale radar technologies
Flightglobal , July 8
Thales has revealed the first details of its new technology roadmap for the Dassault Rafale’s radar and electronic warfare systems, which it believes could create opportunities to equip several other aircraft types over the next 20 years.
The new concept allows for the insertion of future technologies, such as gallium nitride transmit/receive modules, by using a so-called “cloud” architecture, says Pierre-Yves Chaltiel, head of electronic combat systems for Thales Airborne Systems.
Likely to be available within the next several years, the new T/R modules would enable Thales to reduce the depth of the antenna on the Rafale’s RBE2 active electronically scanned array radar. Within a period of 10-12 years, it could also allow additional sensors to be embedded elsewhere within an aircraft’s structure to enhance its overall sensor coverage.
The advance would also deliver increases in processing power, bandwidth capability and electronic counter-countermeasures characteristics, Thales claims.For the Rafale, Chaltiel says a key benefit of the “cloud” concept would be to allow technologies to be added without having to re-qualify all the software used in the fighter’s radar and Spectra EW packages. “The key is the systems knowledge – the processing power coupled with the radar and overall aircraft integration,” he says.
The same technology could also be adopted for use by maritime patrol aircraft and airborne early warning platforms, or even offered as part of future mid-life upgrades for the Eurofighter Typhoon and Saab Gripen, Chaltiel believes. “Thales is ready and open for co-operation,” he says.
French industry and the nation’s DGA defence procurement agency have made combined investments worth over €1 billion ($1.2 billion) in sensor development for the Rafale over the last decade or so, and Chaltiel confirms that the nation is “already working on advanced technology demonstrators for the future”.
Meanwhile, Thales will in August deliver the first of three production-standard AESA RBE2 arrays to the defence ministry to support test activities with the Rafale. The new sensor will enter squadron service in 2012 as part of France’s December 2009 order for a fourth tranche of 60 Rafales.
“The system is far different, in range and capacity of intercept in a multi-threat environment,” Chaltiel says.
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