Dassault Rafale : Learn more about the Indian Air Force's new Omnirole strike platform

[Taygibay]

@Taygibay Could you do a write up, or point to a link, that spells out the difference between the French, Egyptian, Qatari and Indian Rafales?

I'll try to put it up here in the next 48 hours, mate!
Depending on available time, of course!
It will require a few corrections as to what the standard really is though.
A few examples :
In that pic with the Rafale's pay-load, some elements are missing :
the supersonic tanks, the Cobham buddy refueler, the ASMP-A, etc.

Dassault has admitted that a new upgrade package is almost ready for operations which would further decrease the RCS of Rafale to that of a Sparrow!

Not quite, the RCS already is that of a sparrow. The work
is to go lower and cover the payload better.
For reference, The Raptor is given as a medium ball bearing.

An IAF source said India-specific Rafale aircraft will be able to carry 10 tons of weaponry. The current capacity is 9.5 tons so this could mean improved M-88 engines.

Yes but no! The engines got better on successive standards.
The uprated version is a different thing, two actually.

But to India's CREDIT we selected Rafale --when Nobody else was Interested
and became the FIRST customer

Not in the description but still, huh not quite right!
Yes for the first part but no officially, Egypt and Qatar
came first and I don't think it was India and MMRCA
that motivated Cairo.

Anyway, thanks for the effort Stephen, it seems to have paid off,
all intelligent comments so far and nary a troll or fanboy in sight.

Fingers crossed, Tay.

 

[Stephen Cohen]

Anyway, thanks for the effort Stephen, it seems to have paid off,
all intelligent comments so far and nary a troll or fanboy in sight.

Hi ; Thanks for your Inputs ; means a lot to me

I just posted the Article as it is

 

[anniyan]

What a beauty ,but it's a devil against us

Shaheen vs beast

Mark my words. One day you will see this beast in your skies.


Now PAK members will say we have super duper missile, F16, Jovial Fighter to counter strike us.

If you could do that why cowards fighting at border, try to step in to India

 

[mirage]

200 planes, cost around 35 to 40 billion,

hindu baniya ( $$$$) ,forgot that racist term often used here? ( though i was given negative ratings for be in g racist ) . so money will never be a problem ,system was always the problem which is being fixed now . bye for now .

 

[Bheemsen]

It will be ordered in batch like done with MKIs,not all at a time.If first batch is delivered then Dassault can expect order for next batch.

You cant be certain on this depends on government in center if congress of some crap coalition non bjp govt is in center this wont see further orders.

 

[anant_s]

200 planes, cost around 35 to 40 billion

Spread over a period of around 15 years.
While final unit cost of will come down owing to domestic production, future cost of weapon and upgrades will make it one of the most lucrative contracts in Dassault's history.

 

[Kailash Rava]

I'm a new member, but studying IDF and PDF from a while, don't know much about planes but basic specifications

Welcome to PDF. Bro asalam alikum

 

[Taygibay]

Ok so the lowdown on Rafale standards incl. exports.

F1 standards cleared : Magic 2, Gun in air to air mode MICA EM and finally SPECTRA.
Began mid 2000/ ended late 2001.

F2 standards cleared : New hardware, MDPU, Link 16, Spectra additions, OSF, full sensor fusion,
Scalp, MICA IR, then AASM INS/GPS, more SPECTRA evolution and obsolescence treatment.
Began late 2005/ ended mid 2006.

F3 standards cleared : Hardware changes, MICA IR's long range modes, high resolution mapping by RBE2 PESA upgraded IFF mode 5 and the integrated mission programmer ( SLPRM V4-2 ), a new software version, final LGB integration, Damocles, GBUs galore [ 12-22-24 and recently GBU-16 ], AASMs IIR & Laser guided, Air to Ground
gun modes, Exocet Block 2 mod. 2, our nuclear ASMP_A and the AREOS reconnaissance pod and a Link 16 upgrade.
Next came the AESA, the DDM-NG, adaptations to the main visualizations ( HUD/MFD ) and IFF upgrade, NATO compatible GPS format, new safety symbology for the HUD ( with more colours ), signals for take-off emergency
live procedure, real time ground following mode with the AESA.
Began mid 2008/ last iteration F3.4+ late 2014 / next and last coming in 2018 :
F3R adding the Meteor, replacing Damocles with Talios, IFF mode 5/S, more Link 16 upgrades, trickle down upgrades for the PESA from new AESA modes, SPECTRA upgrade, AREOS upgrades, final integration of AASM IIR
& GBU 16, fuse programmation additions for the AASMs and a new refueling pod.

After that, we'll wait for the F4 post 2020.

Now, for export :

Egypt, F3.4+ standard, minus the NATO LVDS Link 16 and nukes but with the original buddy refueling pod.

Qatar, F3R standard minus the nukes but with Meteor/SCALP/MICA/AASM & Lockheed-Martin SNIPER pod
as well as the Elbit Targo-II HMDS.

India, F3R standard minus the NATO LVDS Link 16 and nukes but with an HMCS and unspecified integration
of Indian or India specific weaponry, Astra being mentioned, and proprietary IAF datalink.

That means that none of these is getting an uprated engine but the M88-4E from ECO/CGP upgrades and
finally, there are rumours of a Misrïy option for F3R upgrade post 2020.

Let's tag @Picdelamirand-oil and @halloweene that could have additional
informations or corrections to make to this snap shot and voilà, done!

Have a great day all, please give links for any rebuttal to be worthy and
read you soon, Tay.

P.S.

Don't jump on me dear Bharatiya neighbours for not including all the bells and whistles
that were promised to you here and ( more likely ) there, I only included informations that
I have verified and forgot about story tellers, palm readers, visionaries and unicorns. ​