The situation is clear – someone wants F-22 and F-35 to be in a separate category, in order to play out his superiority complex. And that is all that matters. All foreign designs will be sent to 4.5, 4+++, 4.99 or whatever ridiculous categories just so they don’t make it to the 5th gen. And defiinitions will be constantly set up anew and shifted in order to fit the idea of F-22 and F-35 being one whole league beyond anything else.

nonsense, its so sad to see someone drowning in their own vomit
russia and china are developing 5th gen, europe is the odd one out

If you want me to talk about weaknesses, I may do so about problems with the IR channel of current OSF, maybe logistics with the M88-2, the lack of DDM on the F3, the REAL reasons of the choice of a fixed probe, the low res of Damocles and the lack of Rover datalink, delays in production/deliveries, induced risk in terms of manufacturing, Spectra settings, etc… In fact, a lot of things I don’t know much about (guess why)

The problem is that on fora, “sceptical” members always talk about the lack of thrust, the poor radar performance, strange cockpit design, ****** up RCS reduction measures, etc, etc, etc… A lot of comments which only comes from the imagination of… who knows ?

a lot is in the pipeline to fix
osf, initial optical and then ir improvement

ddm ng is in the pipe line too

the Damocles upgrade i think would also include sensor, although i havent seen it said

the rover data link i had to look up, cas video, didnt the damoclese upgrade include a video data link ?

production delay, 20 rafales in the next 4 years isnt a high rate

aesa radar in a few years for the fleet
the engine is like the super hornet, everyone say its underpowered, except for the force that uses it who are happy with it, boeing has had a 20-30% increase thrust sitting on the shelf for years

Sure, as soon as F35 gets into launching parameters, in the first place… 😀

well the f-35 is going in to kill the bomb trucks, if the escorts arent in missile range, so much the better

why dont you google Lt Col andy and read his bio, it seems he is humble and doesnt have the need to boast
you are only making yourself look silly and waisting a seldom found oppertunity

Another example of selective memory ? :rolleyes: The problem is that I do not write the same kind of messages on Air-Defense than here. Two very different behaviors, and in the end, one opinion which you can find here. You have plenty of good reasons not to understand the subtleties, don’t worry (for example, the fact that french isn’t your native language).

to me it seems that there you can accept the weaknesses and strengths of rafale and have a sensible discussion
where as here rafale is faultless and you blindly defend that proposition

Superb !

especially with those badly fitting panels

correct me if i’m wrong, but didnt you say you wished rafale had better fitting panels, like the other planes that look like they come out of a plastic mold ?

as to radar dont you agree with this ?
The present radar air-to-air modes include long-range search; multi target track and engagement; air combat modes; Non-Cooperative Target Recognition (NCTR); and look down/shoot down functions.
In air-to-air mode, the RBE2 gives a tracking range beyond 60 nautical miles against a 30-square-foot / 3 square meter target, with detection ranges up to 75 nautical miles. The radar can track and prioritize up to 40 targets simultaneously and engage up to eight with Mica, and soon Meteor, air-to-air missiles.

The sawtooth application of RAM at the trailing edge of Rafale’s doors and control surfaces is a crude attempt to attenuate the creeping wave that is predominant with vertically polarized RF.

If you look very closely at the F-22 pic, you’ll see the RAM moldings that are bonded to the door perimeters and perimeters of fuselage openings. http://data3.primeportal.net/hangar/bill_spidle3/f-22a_02-4032/images/f-22a_02-4032_20_of_40.jpg

i think others manage the wing with similar cross section leading and trailing edges ?
with all the projections from the fuselage skin throwing a shadow, is there creep to worry about managing in the big picture

nar, aus/us just have more black projects than anyone else