so perhaps it would be nice to be clarified when you get the article or by arthuro when he has a minute or two

I have got the article now. Jean-Louis Promé did a great job, there are a lot of details.

Cooperative jamming is something current Rafale F3 already can do. But in fact, they are still experimenting it, this means that they have to learn HOW to use it, and create the tactics.
The same is said about the radar terrain following mode and the SEAD capability (Spectra detects, radar creates a high res map, target in designated and shot down).

The last 60 Rafale batch include 25 C, 25 B, and 10 M.

Please answer my question.
Your message is just like if you were talking to someone else about nearly the same topic.

i feel generally quoting blogs as fact will lead us down the garden path to the fairies

I don’t know for your language, but in French, “blog writter” sounds much less creditable than “defense journalist”. It gives me the feeling that you’re telling me that Robert Wall is just an aviation enthousiast like… me, or my 15 years old cousin.

Robert Wall IS a defense journalist, he writes for Aviation Week :
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/About_Us_Editorial_TeamMember.do

Robert Wall

Robert is the Paris Bureau Chief for AVIATION WEEK. Prior to that, he covered the Pentagon for Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine for 15 years. Robert covered the Kosovo, Afghanistan and 2003 Iraq wars, including participating in various missions on reconnaissance and command and control aircraft, as well as helicopters. Before joining AVIATION WEEK, he compiled and served as managing editor for the Worldwide Directory of Defense Authorities. Robert holds an M.A. in international relations from the George Washington University.

So, calling Robert Wall a mere “blog writer” sounds weird.

JackJack, your article is from 2002.

In 2007, Robert Wall already reported that French were unwilling to use a towed decoy :

Also on the agenda are subsystem enhancements and new weapons, including whether to add a suppression of enemy air defense (SEAD) capability, electronic attack functions or a towed-decoy for self-protection. Right now, the latter is low on the priority list and the penalty in terms of loss of maneuverability is not seen as compensating for the added protection.

Rafale heading to Afghanistan

Thales isn’t in charge of the maneuvrability, so I think that in 2007, Dassault had changed their mind.
Now, Thales are also questioning the towed decoy… Definitely not a solution for France.

“4E” ?
Why does it looks like a very marketing name ?

They could have modified some parts to increase the thrust and call it M88-3. Instead, they modified some parts to increase service life and MTBO, and they call it M88-4. It’s still a M88, but the step might be significant enough to change the number, unlike the different variants of the M88-2 (from E1 to E4).

Here is my humble opinion : it is not worth the money and the entire system is lacking .

– 10,000

Sorry.

well if there was room to have it retractable, they would

Yes, of course.

Do you feel better now ?