Well the versatility of the Mica IR makes up for this as your missiles are both BVR/WVR-off boresight capable, so in most cases you don’t need as many missiles as when carrying dedicated BVR or WVR missiles. Besides, should the need arise those pylons can still be cleared, and there is always the possibility to carry two missiles under the belly as in the original Rafale concept.
Nic
4 is still 4, whether you can use them at WVR and BVR doesn’t change that fact. But as mentioned it’s more than sufficient for all kind of scenarios, spare perhaps a large scale war with a major power which is unlikely to happen anytime soon anyway. Of course it is possible to clear the outer pylons, as I have stated before. In theory it would be possible to clear almost every pylon for AAM carriage, but that’s neither planned, nor a given right now. The centre line pylons aren’t cleared for MICA anyway or have you ever seen an operational Rafale with MICAs on the centreline stations? It is an option and the Rafale A has been flown with mock up missiles on these stations, but in reality MICA isn’t integrated/cleared for those centre line stations. The current max. of MICAs is in fact 6, as the current max of AAMs on the Typhoon is in fact 8. Both aircraft could carry more in if it would be decided to clear them on additional pylons or if dual-launch rails would be used for examples. Many years ago it was stated that Dassault considers such dual launch rails (supposedly for the centre wing stations) to increase the number of AAMs, if there would be a requirement for it.
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