Ahem with an over 95% availability and flying, performing real missions while EF was dancing circles in the air?
Remember the issue with the emergency landing and if I remember there were also some engine changes. Nothing similar was reported from the EF if I remember correctly and nobody said that the Rafale wasn't vastly superior
back then.
Look i din't say the plane in itself do not have qualities (high acceleration high speed high altitude interceptor). but for swing role, it is decades from Rafale.
It WAS far ahead, but as you admited, it is moving on, while Rafale is basically stuck at it's level and waiting for the MLU to actually give it some game changers again.
You simply can't deny that an EF with Brimstone 2 and Paveway IV is superior to Rafale with GBU 49 or AASM 250 in CAS and that the EF weapon pack is less costly!
Neither that SPEAR 3 is superior to AASM 125 in SEAD or precision strike (SPICE 250 is even better)!
Nor can you deny that a Captor E with 50% more TR modules and the swashplate is superior to the RBE 2 in the F3R!
And that shows the movement of the EF upgrades compared to the Rafale upgrades. That still doesn't make the EF as capable as Rafale in all areas, but it comes close enough in some areas and surpasses it in others.
But its clear that the IAF is making an desperate appeal for Rafale without sounding like sales agent for Rafale.
If hat would be the case, he only would had supported the DM instead of countering him, because that would increase pressure on Dassault, without bringing up the choice of another MMRCA and without stating that it doesn't needs to be Rafale, but an MMRCA.
He chose his words for a reason and he made it clear that Rafale remains the prefered choice, but that even IAF is starting to think about other ways.
Please buddy, not the old stuff again. Luftwaffe, just as RAF or even IAF in some cases had ordered too little ammount of spares. That caused cannibalisation of other fighters and therefor to lower number of operational fighters. IAF did the same with MKI or the Hawk trainer, which caused problems too, so that's an issue of the customer not the fighter. In Libya the Rafale had more issues than the EF's and as everybody knows, the Tornado is used because it can carry the Brimstone now, which the EF will get only till 2018. If the French Airforce would have the Tornado with Brimstone, they wouldn't use the Rafale either, since the Brimstone offer clear advantages over AASM, especially against low collateral damage targets. As I said before, in 2018 the EF will surpass the Rafale in CAS, by 2019 with SPEAR 3 also in SEAD and if they can integrate the Storm Shadow in asymetric configs (hinted by the last test pics), they might even be able to carry a single missile with 2 fuel tanks.
