arthurobecause they will hang their ordnance INSIDE the airframe. Then, when you shape it well and use RAM, you get an overall RCS that is low. Put drop tanks and external pylons with AMRAAM and JDAMs or LGBs on the F-22 and pfftt ! its RCS will spike up to a degree that for all practical purposes, the F-22’s LO stealthy airframe will not be a big factor anymore. It will most likely be seen by other modern radars at ranges that will mean no advantage of stealth whatsoever.
the Su-35 won’t need to carry drop tanks, so that is an advantage that its airframe has, which when treated with RAM or intake blockers will lead to a significant drop in its RCS. Nevertheless Sukhoi doesn’t go around trying to pass off treated Su-35s as being LO the way the French talk about the Rafale’s RCS. A smaller fighter with some minimal LO shaping (like the Rafale) with a drop tank is a totally different kettle of fish as compared to a clean Rafale whose RCS is what is advertised as part of marketing. If a regular fighter radar can detect a 5m2 target at anywhere more than 100 kms, then a 3m2 or 3.5 m2 target will be detected at a significant distance as well. There is no huge advantage worth talking about.
its not for no reason that the F-35 is designed to carry such a lot of internal fuel and even most of its ordnance. The trade off is a larger airframe with its associated drag and performance penalties, but LM thinks its worth the reduction in RCS for a true VLO platform. Rafale, Typhoon, Gripen NG, etc. cannot be compared in this respect in a real sense for a typical mission loadout.
Kramer,
You are mixing up things. It is not because a more radical approach was chosen for the F22,F35,PAKFA that RCS reduction is irrelevant in other cases.
Why would the rafale, typhoon, gripen, SH, SU35, tejas feature RCS reduction if it was not relevant when loaded. Of course it has an impact on all configs. Better have the smallest RCS as possible rather than the RCS of a B52 !
To Sign : the RCS of a clean MKI is certainly closer to 10m2 or 15m2 than 5m2. An F15 has already an RCS around 10m2 and a mig29 is around 5m2. Imagine the RCS of an Mki !
arthuroAn aircraft which is harder to detect gives many asset. You are detected latter which provides a higher survivability : it gives a smaller window of interception for an enemy…Even with an heavy AtG load despite the impact on RCS. Starting with an RCS below 1m2 is always better than starting with an RCS around 10m2 in a clean config.
It is also a force multiplier for jamming.
As said page 25 in the latest rafale special report from Air&Cosmos, the external loads like the pylons,the drop tanks, Mica, scalp and ASMP are RAM treated. That doesn’t mean it will not have an impact on the RCS but everything was made to diminish it to the maximum and the impact is certainly contained. The simple fact that money, time and effort was spent doing this give you directly the answer of its usefulness.
If rafale pilots told that the lower RCS is an asset versus the Typhoon when Typhoon pilots gave their own strengths why would we call it into question ? There are certainly in a better position to see the impact of a lower RCS. The results from the lattest ATLC confrontation is probably a good testament of the RCS effect (although not the only reason)
An aircarft which was rated by the FAB better than the smaller gripen NG and the SH is also a very good indication. If it was useless why would it be assed by the FAB ?
Kramer,
What you should understand is that RCS reduction is always good to have even with external loads…Why would all aircaft manufacturer of the world bother with RCS reduction then ? Hey even the SU35 makes effort in that direction… Again the rafale was ranked as having the lowest RC in Brazil and according to french pilots who recently had the opportunity to confront the typhoon it has a much lower RCS. With a similar weapon load the difference will remain. Note that from head on the micas attached to the fuselage are hidden from the opposing radar due to the curvature of rafale fuselage.
Given that an F15 has an RCS of 10m2 (roughly) I bet that an Mki is even higher than that.
arthuromrmalaya, Why would AdA Pilots be a bad source ? I guess it is ok when A&C describe where the Typhoon has an edge according to typhoon pilots interviewed (more thrust, radar range) but when there are french well of course it can’t be true…As for the FAB evaluation when it is rated first against two other LO design you can bet it is very competitive in that aera and thus it gives more credit to the french pilot claim (which they could perfectly assess during all their engagements).
arthuroswiss news
Boeing predicts new prospects for US trainers, Swiss fighters
Flight International , June 27A top Boeing executive predicts an all-new aircraft design will replace the Northrop T-38 Talon and that the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet will re-enter a competition in Switzerland for a fighter contract.[…]
Meanwhile, Chadwick also sought to revive hopes for the Super Hornet sales campaign in Switzerland. Boeing withdrew the fighter from the Swiss competition two years ago, ceding the race to the Dassault Rafale and Saab Gripen.
A public referendum now is expected to decide the future for the tender to replace Switzerland’s F/A-18C/D Hornets.
“We believe they will establish a new requirement [after the referendum],” Chadwick says, “that will allow us to re-enter the competition.”
[…]
Flight: T-X and Switzerland
G2 Solutions News Analysis, June 29Boeing is correct on the first item, a US built clean-sheet design to replace T-38 will likely be favored by the customer. However, Chris Chadwick is probably wrong on the second issue. Rafale will likely be selected by the Swiss Air Force; The referendum might delay the contract a couple of years, but Rafale F3/F4 is in the lead to eventually replace F-5s initially, and then F-18C/Ds next decade as well. Boeing is quite correctly attempting to defend its incumbent position. If Boeing does indeed think they have a shot a supplying fighter aircraft to the Swiss military in the future, it is highly unlikely to be with F-18s; particularly not in this political climate…
arthuroI think that you missed the point mrmalaya,
The point was to compare the RCS of an aircraft with a full AtG load on a rafale against a full AtG laod on the sukhoi Mki.
Despite that the AtG load increases the RCS of both aircrafts the starting point of the rafale is much lower. In the end the RCS is lower and that have still an impact. A 5m2 RCS (for a fully loaded rafale for instance) is still harder to detect than a 15 or 20 m2 RCS with a fully loaded Mki.
About Rafale and Typhoon RCS comparison we have now direct pilots experiences and they say rafale has a much lower RCS. This is inderictly cross checked by the FAB evaluation which rank the rafale as the most invisible compared to the gripen NG and the SH.
arthuroIt always matter : you will detect a 15m2 RCS fighter before a 5m2 RCS fighter and a Boeing 747 before the 15m2 RCS fighter.
According to the lattest A&C special edition many of rafale weapons have been designed from the beginning with RCS reduction. According to many french pilots the rafale enjoy a much lower RCS than the Typhoon (A&C report from rafale vs Typhoon in Corsica) and according to the Brazilian evaluation the rafale has a lower RCS than both the Gripen NG and the Super Hornet.
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.
[QUOTE]
On paper, the Typhoon has some undeniable advantages: more powerful than M88, its two reactors give it a better weight/thrust than the Rafale. According to the Eurofighter pilots, this additional power would be particularly appreciable during simulated combat below 20,000 ft, where the density of air allows the engines to be fully expressed. In the battle beyond visual range (BVR), the Typhoon also has an greater “extension” than the Rafale. This is because of the the physical characteristics of the radar, which antenna “sees” futher than the RBE2-PESA, but also because of the dynamic performance of the American missile AIM-120 AMRAAM . Designed exclusively for medium-range interception, it certainly does not have the versatility of the Mica, but it is superior in terms of range. Facing a Rafale, these theoretical advantages, however, must be nuanced.
In BVR combat, although the lengthening of the radar and missiles of the Typhoon are superior, the french Rafale fighter’s radar signature is, according to many pilots, much less important than the Eurofighter’s one. It is therefore an asset. Even better: the sensors fusion which enjoys the Rafale is also a crucial advantage in BVR combat, because it offers the pilots a much better understanding of the tactical situation during combat, and this, 360 degrees around the aircraft.
Once the “merge” is reached (when BVR combat turns into short-range), the Rafale has still strong chances of victory against the Typhoon. In the opinion of French pilots who have confronted the European aircraft, it’s above all the quality of the electric flight controls [FBW] of the French fighter who makes the difference. In dogfight, Rafale can quickly point its nose to the threat, while less degrading its energy than the Eurofighter does. And this partly because the maximum angle of attack of the Rafale is “clamped” around 30, which allows it to evolve in a controlled manner even at low speed.
This difference in terms of maneuverability is also illustrated by the position of the canard on the two planes: placed well in front of the fuselage on the Typhoon, they play the role of an additional control surface used to “steer” more quickly the nose of the plane to take the incidence.
Conversely, the Rafale ducks are located very near the delta wing and are used primarily to pick up the airflow to slow up the loss of lift on the wing, thus giving the pilot a full control of the aircraft at low speeds. [/color][/bA first indisputable skirmish
The Armée de l’ Air has been able to experience this superiority in dogfight in September 2009, during an exercise organized by the French and British headquarters, during a deployment on the Solenzara airbase in Corsica .
Few days , the EC-1/7 stands next with the Royal Air Force transformation squadron on typhoons. The English have thought of everything, and introduce to the French pilots the simulated engagement patterns they wish to practice facing the Rafale. The French pilots push back a smile: the conditions of the exercice are, on paper, custom-made for the Typhoons , they plan within visual range fights , 1 vs 1, under 20,000 ft and at 350 knots. Whatever. The ‘Provence’ squadron takes up the gauntlet … The 2 planes take off, then meet up at 18 000 ft to start the exercise. The aircraft are flying on the same trajectory with about 2 km of lateral separation. “Turn Away” with this announcement, the pilots turn 45 ° outward, to move away from each other. A few seconds later, the “turn in” and the planes turn toward each other to meet face-to-face in the sky. Once both aircraft is within visual range , its the ultimate ad: “Fight’s on!”. The first skirmish is indisputable. It need less than 40 seconds and only 3 crossing for the Rafale pilot to have its gun in firing position. However, the pilots flying the two planes are far from beginners. While the English is considered a Typhoon specialist in air-to-air, the “Provence” pilot has also a solid experience in within visual range combat.Nine wins, one defeat
This initial result is not a fluke: the two next passes end also to the advantage of the Rafale. In total, 4 different engagements will take place in Corsica, for a total of 9 wins against 1 defeat for the french fighter. A nice demonstration of force that inspires the pilots the following moral: without mastery, power is nothing … It is however an area where the Typhoon is victorious: the one of exports. While the Rafale is still looking for a first client, the Typhoon has already been sold to Saudi Arabia and Austria, and remains opposed to the Rafale in Switzerland and India.
arthuronews :
Dassault Reiterates Pitch To IAF For 40 Fast-Track Rafales
Livefist, June 28Senior Dassault officials in France briefed visiting Indian Air Force AOC-in-C Eastern Air Command, Air Marshal KK Nowhar, about the Rafale and reiterated the company’s willingness/ability to rapidly supply 40 Rafales to the IAF as a stopgap ahead of the MMRCA competition results. Dassault’s pitch plays on the IAF squadron depletions, and the assertion that none of the other MMRCA contenders can deliver new jets as quickly as it can. The offer is a reiteration of what French prez Nicolas Sarkozy brought with him when he visited India in January 2008 — ostensibly to help the IAF maintain its combat edge in the face of a possible delay in the outcome of the MMRCA competition. French Air Force Rafales did not participate in the just concluded Garuda-2010 air exercise, though it has been decided that four Rafales will fly to India at the end of next year for Garuda-2011.
arthuroAbout 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 ..]
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.
arthuronews :
Embraer bet on aircraft export to France
Valor Fim de Semana via Ansalatina , June 26
SAO PAULO, 26 (ANSA) – The Brazilian Embraer aircraft factory is confident about the export of freighters to the french armed forces, as part of the military accord between Brazil and Paris, including the purchase of French military aircraft.
Frederico Curado, president of Embraer, estimates that there are possibilities to sell the freighters KC-390 to the French Armed forces, published the weekend magazine. Brazil is negotiating with France the purchase of 36 Rafale bombers within a strategic defense agreement that also includes French submarines and helicopters.
Defense Minister Nelson Jobim, established as a requirement to import the Rafale, the import of Brazilian freighters by France, said the weekend magazine of the daily Valor.
The President Luiz Lula da Silva and Nicolas Sarkozy have addressed the issue in May, as it emerged in the local press.
Frederico Curado said that, despite informal talks, “we still have no guarantees” that Paris will buy the cargo. Curado said Paris signed a document by which it was committed to yield Embraer secret technologies of its jets. So that in the future, it will be built in brazil.
Brasilia will announce later if it will acquire the French fighters, or choose those built in the U.S. or Sweden.
arthuroI think there are several possible answer to this Aspis.
Firstly I think that you incorrectly assume that the “higher risk” program was the only reason of not choosing the gripen. Certainly it has played an important role but this criteria must be weighted with others (price, ToT, performance etc). It is the evaluation which must determine if the level of risk is acceptable when you take into account other parameters.
Here we learn that the Gripen scored first for the ToT part and that it was the cheapest…If the evaluation was so biased it wouldn’t be that hard to justify that they could not guaranty the ToT because of the various origin of the hardware and that would be another reason for not selecting it. So you should not overlook that when praises are justified for the gripen they are put in the report.
Of course there is a political aspect but that have an impact by how the different criterium are weighted against each other rather than in the evaluation in it self. We have learnt from Istoe that the rafale offered the best technology package with the rafale while it was the most expensive…
At the end, once the evaluation is done, you must chose what critera are the most important for your country and there is nothing shocking with that. There is no black and white solution given all of the three aircrafts are modern and capable. Here Brazil decided to pay more for more…with more long term garanty.
They have chosen a particular mix of capabilities and guarantees according to their interest.
arthuroRafale M on the Foch (with drop tanks and 4 AAM) and without After Burner :
arthuroAlthough I support the rafale I don’t dislike the gripen NG. In many ways it would share many similarities with the rafale but at a smaller scale.
But it seems that despite the “belly dancing” and appealing SAAB communication (which is not necessarily something negative as any firm needs to communicate), the brazilian authorities were unconvinced by some aspect of this program.
Certainly SAAB and Sweden offered some guarantees…But these are not comparable with those of the SH and rafale. Both of them are ordered by their respective countries in large numbers. Even without an export. Their development is done (or almost done). Given the number in service and to be delivered the support guarantee during all the life span is much higher than an aircraft that wasn’t ordered or that would be ordered in much smaller quantities. Just to say that there is a hierarchy in terms of guarantees. when you look for the next 40 years I am more confident with the SH or the rafale in term of support than the gripen NG.
I also think that even if SAAB, selex, GE have all the skills to eventually offer a very capable aircraft the development efforts to integrate all the new sensors in an effective way might have been downplayed and the development schedule is probably too aggressive to be realistic as suggested by some (Istoe).
For these reasons the gripen was certainly considered as being the most risky project.
I fear that gripen NG future is not very bright. Brazil and Switzerland seems not very likely now (although nothing is decided or signed yet). For India, given the stake of this competition I bet that the US or EADS could put much more on the table in a last move to grab the deal than the Swedes despite an attractive product. So I really don’t see what could be Gripen NG potential export although it offers very relevant capabilities for the price. For how long the gripen NG would be offered on export ?
arthuroAnother more credible possibility is that some were mislead (for months) by SAAB “shiny” press releases, Power Point Slides or PR communication etc. That was indeed quite appealling for the general opinion, especially when Dassault almost doesn’t communicate. Obviously the Gripen had a positive momentum thanks to its communication plan. But what about the decision makers that have access to the real datas and who have a real knowledge about the “complexity” of a program and the level of risk ? Certainly all the belly dancing from SAAB didn’t impress them.
It is a very human behavior to focus on pieces of informations that fit to your own wish and overlook the rest. This report could well be a quick return to reality for gripen supporters. Especially when you learn that the gripen was never in a position of winning conversely to what have been said by some people connected with SAAB lobby. Even with criteria that could have favored the gripen (ToT)…
arthuroI agree that “wait and see” is the wisest thing to do. That being said this report is quite coherent and take into account previous rumors etc. It is also in line with Jobim schedule. He submitted the report some days ago now …
arthuroadditional news :
Rafale for Switzerland, the Dassault program
Avia News , June 23[…]
The industrial partnership:The industrials of the consortium Rafale International – consisting of Dassault Aviation, Snecma (Safran Group) and Thales – MBDA and their subcontractors are able to offer to Switzerland an industrial and scientific cooperation for the benefit of all cantons [counties] . The offer is affecting the whole range of suppliers ie: the military with the Rafale, but also the civilian sector which includes programs for Falcon business jets, civilian engines CFM56 and avionics for Aircraft and helicopters.
Some elements of the Rafale are already built in Switzerland (cockpit windows, fuel tank and more recently additional elements of the radar Thales RBE2).
The offer includes the outsourcing of many structural components, final assembly and maintenance in Switzerland for all of the Rafale program and also research and development. The manufacture of weapons ( MICA missiles) is proposed and also the development of the helmet-mounted sight GERFAUT, are also concerned systems such as the system of self-protection SPECTRA and FSO.
France assures to Switzerland the access to all technologies used in the aircraft including development tools, source code and the most sensitive data.
Optimized for Switzerland:
According to Dassault, the Rafale is the aircraft best suited to our country, because as a neighbor collaboration with both military and industry are promoted. In addition, the latest version (F3 +) tested in Switzerland fulfilled 95% of the specifications and offers the following possibilities:
* Flight capability in “supercruise” mode.
* Short take-off distance.
* Prolonged range and capacity allowing long surveillance missions.
* Fast implementation including by soldiers of militia.
* Easy integration into structures already built.Multisensor system proposed:
The proposed version of the Rafale for our country is the most recent available, the standard F3+ (sometimes identified F4) This version is not yet in service, but was ordered by the Air Force and Navy end-December 2009 for 60 copies. The aircraft features:
* AESA radar Thales RBE-2AA.
* System autoprotection SPECTRA.
* New generation FSO (Front Sector Optronic).
* Last generation link 16 (MIDS).
* NCW Data fusion system (Net Centric Warfare).In terms of propulsion, it is not excluded that a more powerful version of SNECMA M-88 will be available (to be confirmed).
Cooperation for military training:
Switzerland is already training regularly with the French Air Force (air refueling and EPERVIER exercice) in the case of acquisition of the Rafale by our country, our pilots would also have flight simulators as well as several sectors of flight training inside the French territory. Moreover, the air base 113 Saint-Dizier would be open to our pilots.
Comments:
Although not a favorite in early trials, the F3 + version has demonstrated its excellent capabilities and has perfectly fulfilled the specifications. In addition, Dassault people were able to conduct a remarkable campaign both on technical and interpersonal ground. The Rafale has today many assets that could very well help it to win the Swiss market!
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