It seems to have an 8-bladed prop, and the French E-2s use a four-bladed one, AFAIK.

it was upgraded to 2000 standart as distiller said.

Tmor:
How could we know ? I never heard about that, and I’ve never seen any picture in wich Rafale brought weapons on these stations.

I think I have a picture with magic2 on these stations on a ground static display on the rafale B301. It is on another computer I think. I will try to post it later. I have download it from fonk a few monthes ago lol!

Lmraptor,

I totally agree with you.

ok, some nice pics now!:D

Were the Rafales dedicated to A-G during TLP? What weapons were they simulating? (NB that there had been no firings of AASM and Scalp, so they were hardly operational weapons at that time).

rafale was specificaly dedicated to AtoG tasks during this exercise according to DSI. That is why it is impressive. It has been able to have the second best number of AtA kills whereas it was heavily loaded (3*2000l tanks scalp and mica/ AASM were simulated via the FCS who simulated heavy loadings) against dedicated Air superiority aircraft with skillful and well train pilots. Plus even if they are not as recent, a f15C with amram and a well trained pilot is still a reference for air superiority.

AASM and Scalp firing were simulated at this exercise according to A&C. If the AASM is not yet delivered, the rafale is fully wired and ready to use it. in french they said that “les conduites de tire sont prêtes.”
I don’t know how to translate it properly but it means that AASM firing can alredy be simulated. all the softwares are already in the aircraft. only the weapon is missing.

The typhoon didn’t stay during the whole TLP. They went there for a short period of time, so I would’t be surprise if the F15 has the first place.

an unusual rafale pic. I think it was due to the visit of the new french defense minister.

I have also read the article from Air fan. a gripen pilot said that in dogfight they had a hard time with the rafale at high altitude where the gripen is less performant, usually they engage at medium/low altitude.

a rafale pilote also said about the gripen that it is a kind of smaller mirage 2000-5 mk2 in terms of capacities.
He also said that in terms of playload, arm system technology and sensor fusion there is a gap betweeb the two aircrafts in favor of the rafale.

nevetheless they praised gripen’s fast redeployement, rusticity and swing role capacity.

In the article we are also told that mirage F1cr were no match for the gripen who outflown them easely.

all that was due to a gripen detatchment in reims air base, the swedish were also invited at st dizier which is not very far. They were also impressed by rafale’s playload. The aim of this detatchment was to train the swedish for international deployement. The air traffic near reims is quite dense due to the proximity of paris so they could practise there procedure in a dense environnement.

regards.

That said, swerve, are you SURE of this 25km range ? It’s waaaay more than the Hellfire’s original range of 6-8km, how is it possible ??

because it is fired from an aicraft from higher altitude and speed I guess.

an helicopter which is hidding near the ground at very slow speed to make an ambush hasn’t the same kinematics.

Sagem Défense Sécurité : réussite du tir global de l’Armement Air Sol Modulaire
Paris, le 28 mai 2007

La Délégation Générale pour l’Armement (DGA) a réalisé le 23 avril 2007 le premier tir global(1) de l’AASM (Armement Air-Sol Modulaire). Ce tir a été effectué par un pilote de l’Armée de l’Air à bord d’un Rafale.

La mission enchaînait plusieurs tirs à distance de sécurité sur des cibles indépendantes, dont une située en plein travers, et comprenait également un tir en salve de trois AASM. Toutes les cibles ont été atteintes avec la précision attendue et l’OSF (Optronique Secteur Frontal) du Rafale a permis au pilote de constater les impacts en temps réel et de présenter en vidéo son compte-rendu de tir au débriefing.

L’AASM est un armement modulaire développé par la société Sagem Défense Sécurité (Groupe SAFRAN). Il est constitué d’un kit de guidage et d’un kit d’augmentation de portée s’adaptant à des corps de bombe en service auxquels l’AASM confère une portée accrue et une frappe de grande précision.

Les trois tirs de qualification de l’AASM déjà réalisés sur Mirage 2000 N ont démontré une portée supérieure à 50 km en haute altitude et à 15 km en très basse altitude avec des impacts à vitesse élevée et des précisions meilleures que les spécifications.

Ce tir global AASM sur Rafale constitue le premier tir Air-Sol multi-cible d’une telle ampleur réalisé en Europe. Sans équivalent dans le monde, l’AASM apporte aux forces de nouvelles capacités d’action air-sol.

(1) Tir global est le terme officiel pour désigner le tir en conditions opérationnelles avec plusieurs AASM de série à partir d’un Rafale en configuration de série.

truly impressive this is a weapon which makes the difference with any other in the world! very widespread targets destroyed in one pass with off bore sight shooting and immediate assesment of the strikes with the OSF. wow!