I think you’re right. Canards position hint at significant AoA and engines exhaust plumes are somewhat visible (full PC).

Naah, you don’t get it. The rafale is so underpowered that it must land with full PC 😀

Incorporating JSF into the Rafale

:mad::eek::eek::eek: you will pay for that infamy :eek::eek::eek::mad:
😀

According to Le Point, the operation would be costing 400 000 euros a day in Mali with Rafale costing 27 000 euros an hour (estimate).

That’s a poor calculation method as the planes would fly in France anyway if they were not being used for that operation.

What they should take into account are only the additional flying hours and crew salaries bonus as compared to peace time training in France.

frankvw

Well I don’t see how any military deployment can be separated out of the politics, as this will determine the force available and its terms of engagement.

In the British and French action in Libya, we were supporting the rebels against the government. In Mali, we are supporting the government against the rebels.

Steven

There is a common point though : in both case we are supporting the population against a violent group of people, holding the country by force in the case of Libya, or trying to take it by force in the case of Mali.

One Gazelle helicopter was downed during the air raid, said Adm. Edouard Guillaud, chief of staff of France’s armed forces, and Lt. Damien Boiteux, commander of the helicopter unit, was killed, though it was unclear whether Boiteux was aboard the downed rotorcraft.

That’s a wrong translation of what the Admiral said. AFAIK all hellicopters returned to their base, although 2 of them were damage during the raid.

Thanks for the compliment! But this is certainly not just an open sales pitch from my side. On the contrary it has everything to do with the exact type of menace the Super Tucanos has been designed to counter, one can definitely not say the same about the Mirage 2000 and the Rafale in the particular Mali theater, do you agree? 😉 😉

Also remember that Mauritania and Burkina Faso both direct neighbors of Mali (to the West and East respectively!) Have already bought their Super Tucanos, I wonder why? 😉

Regards,

Hammer

I don’t know, Hello + tactical drones will probably do better for france.

It doesn’t seem like ethnic conflict is the issue on the front burner right now. There was/is a movement of Touareg separatism, but that was superseded by AQM who have been busy destroying tombs in the Touareg area they control and imposing Taliban rules that aren’t to the sentiments of most Touareg in the area. There seems to have been some effort by the West to get the Malian regime to agree to negotiations/more autonomy for the Touareg area in order to reduce friction between two groups which are both antagonistic to AQM. There may well be the issue of whether Malian military goes into these areas to hold them against AQM, or local Touareg forces are left to hold the area (with EU and ECOWAS support).

The Gazelle pilot supposedly died of his wounds, which I take to mean he (or copilot) was able to fly the helicopter back to land at base (or somewhere safe). He must have been hit by small arms or HMG fire that didn’t substantially damage the aircraft. Usage of these unarmored helicopter platforms in roles like this just doesn’t seem like a good idea. Perhaps the Gazelle replacement will have at least light armoring on the crew area. Likewise for programs like the US’ AAS, a platform with some payload allowance (like EADS) could allow light armoring to be applied to the crew area, if not the passenger area.

I don’t think more C17s is really in the pipeline, there is already the NATO C17 group which could provide more planes if needed, there may be constant demand for them from Afghanistan, but that means they are ferrying cargo between Europe and A-stan, so if a higher priority mission comes up they can be switched. Enough A400M are coming online soon between UK, FR, DE,and others that more expensive C17 isn’t needed. Also more refueling to match. Perhaps ideally, but with budget crunch, no.

Tigers are expeted to be deployed very soon,

I could be wrong, but I bet that the C-17 of the RAF will be used for to bring the tigers in Mali