DrSomnath999
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SUMAN SHARMA New Delhi | 29th Jul
The French aircraft, Rafale, which has been declared the lowest bidder in the Indian Air Force's (IAF's) MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) deal, will have European weapons onboard.
These weapons have been planned for integration on the fifth generation F-35 joint strike fighter (JSF) as well. Considering the success rate of these weapons in Libya and Iraq, they are being looked at as perfect to strike objectives deep inside Pakistan.
Earlier, American missile manufacturer Raytheon too had pitched for the weapons suite on the Rafale, but it is learnt from reliable sources, that the French jet manufacturer Dassault Aviation will integrate French MBDA's weapons on Rafale, and not American weapons.
While the final price and offsets are being negotiated between the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Dassault Aviation, the MoD recently gave the green signal to Rafale whose evaluation process leading to its selection was questioned by a TDP Rajya Sabha member.
The Rafale fighter will come with two Scalp cruise missiles, each one costing around 850,000 euros. The Scalp is the name in use in France, while the same missile is called Storm Shadow in UK. It is in service with the air forces of UK, France and Italy in Rafale and Tornado fighter aircraft.
The other weapons that are likely to come with the Rafale are the Mica air to air missile from the French company MBDA, AASM air to ground missile from French Sagem and American Mk 81 and Mk 82 bombs. The primary weapons suite of the Rafale will be French.
The Scalp/Storm Shadow is a long range, deep strike weapon with mid-course guidance using GPS, with a maximum body diameter of 48 centimetres and weighing about 1,300 kg with a wingspan of 3 metres. The fire-and-forget missile is programmed before launch, and cannot be controlled once it is fired. If target information is changed once it is launched, then it could be self-destructed. It uses an autonomous terminal guidance. It can strike high-value strategic targets. The missile has an optimised warhead for tough targets. The stealthy missile has a range of about 250 km and is powered by a turbojet at Mach 0.8. The Scalp can be carried by fighters like the Tornado GR4 of the Royal Air Force, the Italian Tornado IDS, Swedish Saab Gripen, Dassault Rafale and Mirage 2000 jets.
Making it truly a next generation weapon of the future, the Scalp maker MBDA will be integrating it on the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft as part of its Phase-2 Enhancement in 2014, and will also integrate it on the fifth generation F-35 Lightning-II, when the aircraft enters service.
The missile had a 97% success rate in the Libya campaign, where for the first time Italian Air Force aircraft used it. The French Air Force also used an undisclosed number of the Scalp-EG missiles in March 2011, while UK's Royal Air Force fired the missile at Libyan air defence installations through their Tornado GR4 fighter aircraft. The missile was used onboard French Rafales against the Libyan Al Jufra airbase. On 26 August 2011, it was reported that these missiles had been deployed against a military bunker in Sirte, the hometown of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Dassault Aviation has also recently declared that Rafale aircraft can also operate on short take-off and landing runways on aircraft carriers of the navy.
Rafale will have European weapons, not American
SO OUR SURGERY SPECIALIST RAFALE IS COMING WITH FRENCH \WEAPONS
The French aircraft, Rafale, which has been declared the lowest bidder in the Indian Air Force's (IAF's) MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) deal, will have European weapons onboard.
These weapons have been planned for integration on the fifth generation F-35 joint strike fighter (JSF) as well. Considering the success rate of these weapons in Libya and Iraq, they are being looked at as perfect to strike objectives deep inside Pakistan.Earlier, American missile manufacturer Raytheon too had pitched for the weapons suite on the Rafale, but it is learnt from reliable sources, that the French jet manufacturer Dassault Aviation will integrate French MBDA's weapons on Rafale, and not American weapons.
While the final price and offsets are being negotiated between the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Dassault Aviation, the MoD recently gave the green signal to Rafale whose evaluation process leading to its selection was questioned by a TDP Rajya Sabha member.
The Rafale fighter will come with two Scalp cruise missiles, each one costing around 850,000 euros. The Scalp is the name in use in France, while the same missile is called Storm Shadow in UK. It is in service with the air forces of UK, France and Italy in Rafale and Tornado fighter aircraft.
The other weapons that are likely to come with the Rafale are the Mica air to air missile from the French company MBDA, AASM air to ground missile from French Sagem and American Mk 81 and Mk 82 bombs. The primary weapons suite of the Rafale will be French.
The Scalp/Storm Shadow is a long range, deep strike weapon with mid-course guidance using GPS, with a maximum body diameter of 48 centimetres and weighing about 1,300 kg with a wingspan of 3 metres. The fire-and-forget missile is programmed before launch, and cannot be controlled once it is fired. If target information is changed once it is launched, then it could be self-destructed. It uses an autonomous terminal guidance. It can strike high-value strategic targets. The missile has an optimised warhead for tough targets. The stealthy missile has a range of about 250 km and is powered by a turbojet at Mach 0.8. The Scalp can be carried by fighters like the Tornado GR4 of the Royal Air Force, the Italian Tornado IDS, Swedish Saab Gripen, Dassault Rafale and Mirage 2000 jets.
Making it truly a next generation weapon of the future, the Scalp maker MBDA will be integrating it on the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft as part of its Phase-2 Enhancement in 2014, and will also integrate it on the fifth generation F-35 Lightning-II, when the aircraft enters service.
The missile had a 97% success rate in the Libya campaign, where for the first time Italian Air Force aircraft used it. The French Air Force also used an undisclosed number of the Scalp-EG missiles in March 2011, while UK's Royal Air Force fired the missile at Libyan air defence installations through their Tornado GR4 fighter aircraft. The missile was used onboard French Rafales against the Libyan Al Jufra airbase. On 26 August 2011, it was reported that these missiles had been deployed against a military bunker in Sirte, the hometown of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Dassault Aviation has also recently declared that Rafale aircraft can also operate on short take-off and landing runways on aircraft carriers of the navy.
Rafale will have European weapons, not American
SO OUR SURGERY SPECIALIST RAFALE IS COMING WITH FRENCH \WEAPONS
