Is Russia’s S400 powerful enough to counter Rafale jet?
How easy would it be for Turkey's S-400 system to down the 24 French Rafale jets that Greece will soon be operated?
S-400 battery consists of a long-range radar, a command post vehicle, target acquisition radar and two battalions of launchers with each launcher having four tubes.
The effective range 400km of the S-400 system is reportedly quite impressive (if one is to believe Russian claims), but is limited by the curvature of the earth and can’t penetrate Turkey’s mountainous geography.
As we can see in Syria, protection does not help much. If you fire 8 SCALP missiles from 4 Rafales the chance is nearly zero.
You also should keep in mind that 400 km range is against slow flying high altitude targets. Against low flying targets it is limited to LOS.
Rafale can out-range the S-400 with Storm Shadows, so it has a tool to deal with stuff like that, and the S-400 will have no chance to retaliate. Also the outstanding capability of SPECTRA regarding airborne threat localisation is one of the keys of the Rafale’s superior situational awareness and it provides a multi-spectral threat warning capability against hostile radars, missiles and lasers.
Rafale is a unique EW/ECm aircraft, is not working alone, but with the helps of others Rafale/F-16V/Mirage 2000, the HELLAS-SAT and the Erieye's(AEW coverage), a full and Network centric warfare system.
Here is a interesting video....