Rafale cost quoted by AdlA during Mali operations was 14 000 euros. Keep in mind those were during intense, war use

1 Sqd, rtiring in a few weeks. A pity, there is still 10 000 hours available (apart from ejection seat which are over)

Dilma Rousseff has indefinitely postponed her planned state visit to Washington later this year amidst ongoing fallout from Snowden revelations.

Aviation-related as it had been rumoured Brazil was going to resolve FX-2 in favour of Super Hornet during this state visit.

Link?

First Tranche 4 Rafale delivered (B 311 i think) yesterday. And according to journalist G. Steuer on twitter, Le Drian (french MinDef) stated that discussions about MMRCA should finish before the end of year.

McCain: F-35 among the ‘Great, National Scandals’

http://www.dodbuzz.com/2013/09/19/mccain-f-35-among-the-great-national-scandals/

Thats assuming 100% similar tactics…Thats a big assumption..The way the rafale tackles an IADS or a decent A2G problem may be very different from the way F-35/F22 does…

Abolutely!!!France do not have all US asstests nd wanted to be able to operate independently. One of the reasons of Rafale design. I cant tell you the exact range, but i’ve seen near Paris (La Ferté Allais) some Rafale M coming from Lorient make a quick show (using afterburners), and go back without tanks. I’ll let you calculate the distance on google eath so as you discover a part of our beautiful country ;). Interestingly would be to define combat range first.

light-moderate payload at fixed targets..The autonomy to pick their own targets, missions, and discriminate are not going to come in the short-mid term

Disagree on that point (fixed targets), but i’m sorry i can’t explain why.

Can the Neuron or X-47 pick targets and discriminate on their own?

you imagine this is classified. But i guess they are able to recognize some specific targets using their optical sensors.

Thats not how F-35’s will operate…A 4 ship fighers will be quite spread out compared to legacy fighters (Just how stealth fighers operate) and would be linked up with MADL..You can cover a lot of space with AESA and EOTS when you are spread out nicely..And DAS gives you 360 degrees short-medium-Long range (Against Ballistic missiles and missle launches etc)…Everything will be linked with MADL..

MADL isnt operational yet, is it? and guess what? SAAB already have that type of capability and Dassault ( in fact Thalès) is developing it (Tragedac program, which is exactly sharing sensors…). Btw, Link 16 isn’t as bad as you seem to think, is it? Constantly evolving…

I mean issues like Responsability etc. Yes i am sure. But building 500 or so contracts (equivalent number of french subcontrators) x2 (Dassault want two supply chains, thats why Reliance is involved). Is fairly complicated. You must throughly audit all the chosen companies , in order to determine when they will be able to produce a part X, so that it in integrated in Rafale number y at the right time. Trappier (pdg CEO, not so talkative usually) said it is POSsible for the contract to be wrapped this year (he didnt say will). Other issues may be rupee fell and elections, however i did feel the Dassault official i talked with 10 days ago seem way more confident then in june.

Yes, definitely. Rafale also use 1230L tanks and can (rarely ) use the 3000L generally seen under Mirage F1CR

@Halloween: Whats the size of the EFT’s on the Brazilian senate picture?

No clue, i suppose 2000L ones.