Hi Nicolas10, no doubt about that Rafale has a great BVR load anyway, I just was confused about the statement of Kovy, that’s why I asked.
Correct me if I’m wrong please, but isn’t 1 x centerline fuel tank and 6 x AAMs a normal A2A config for Rafale, while 2 x wing fuel tanks are mainly needed in strike roles?
Like this:
All wing stations are free in this config for AAMs and even if we take your example with 2 fuel tanks at the inner wing stations, you can add missiles only at 2 rear fuselage and 2 mid wing stations. That’s what I meant, that adding AMRAAM, or even a new developed BVR missile won’t change anything in regard to the numbers of BVR missiles, unless you can integrate them to the external wing stations.
Imo, even if the there would be a necessity for Rafale to carry 6 BVR missiles (be it with 2000l, or 4000l fuel), you simply need to integrate the CFTs to the get the same result!
Short range:
– 2 x CFTs = 2300l fuel
– 2 x rear fuselage METEOR / AMRAAM / MICA EM
– 4 x wing station METEOR / AMRAAM / MICA EM
– 2 x wingtip MICA IR
Long range:
– 2 x CFTs = 2300l fuel
– 1 x centerline 2000l fuel tank
– 2 x rear fuselage Meteor / AMRAAM / MICA EM
– 4 x wing station METEOR / AMRAAM / MICA EM
– 2 x wingtip MICA IR
So why invest into something totally new, when you already have developed and tested CFTs? Not to mention the additional advantages of lower RCS and less drag.
When mica is obsolete, no matter how you look at it, you remove 2 (wingtip), to 4 (wingtip + outer wing) bvraam by replacing them with short range aams.
The total number of missiles doesn’t matter: you loose capability, add this to drag & weight penalty of carrying more missiles;
Nic
Sign In
