Two magazine articles on Rafale

[arp2041]

Sorry if any of them already posted, specially by Doc.....

Summary:

1. Indian MMRCA contract has given a boost to the Dassault after number of setbacks.

2. Recent leaked trial report of Swiss air force reached to the conclusion that Rafale was the number one aircraft in the trials leaving behind Gripen NG & even Typhoon.

3. Rafale was assessed as the best aircraft in all five roles - Air policing, DCA, OCA, Recce & Strike, leaving behind it's competitor Typhoon.

4. Even though Rafale was clearly the winner of the trials, Swiss air force & authorities gave the contract to the Gripen NG.

5. There were certain weak points of Rafale - In performance & pilot workload, Typhoon was assessed as best, Helmet mounted sight was judged as the actual weak point.

6. UAE is again negotiating for a contract of Rafale & there are speculation that Swiss AF can also buy Rafales.

 

[arp2041]

Summary:

1. Myth of Typhoon's total domination over Rafale in air-to-air combat has been shattered.

2. Even the second report of swiss authorities on the aircrafts as they will be in 2015, when they will be inducted gave Typhoon less points than Rafale & concluded Rafale is more mature aircraft currently.

3. Rafale has more air-to-ground weapon integrated. Though Typhoon is complimented on it's ability to super cruise at mach 1.44.

4. Rafale will be sooner having an AESA (RBE 2) radar than Typhoon.

5. Though denied, Rafale actually failed IAF's 'hot & high' trials in Leh.

6. IAF concluded that both the direct acquisition cost & life cycle cost of Rafale are cheaper than Typhoon which ultimately favored the decision towards Rafale.

7. Politics of the deal - France offered full TOT, nuclear coop. etc. also France is the most reliable partner of India eg. being Pokhran tests & kargil war, on the other hand typhoon consists of consortium of four nations each with different foreign policies towards India, they can be unreliable as in case of spares for sea king helicopters from UK, they have various sanctions in place & can be a threat at the time of war.



"it was the Dassault Rafale's apparently clear superiority over rival Eurofighter Typhoon that came as the biggest surprise to most observers & analysts" - AA Me, IN

 

[CallsignAlzaeem]

What happened in Swiss exercise proved that A2G and Recce superiority remains with Rafale.

 

[arp2041]

What happened in Swiss exercise proved that A2G and Recce superiority remains with Rafale.

Absolutely, i m proud that IAF this time chose the best aircraft on offer both in case of price as well as performance, though price can certainly come down after the negotiations get over & final contract will be signed. Rafale is truely omni role fighter

 

[Ajaxpaul]

Rafale failed in leh ?

 

[arp2041]

Rafale failed in leh ?

It is a specific type of trials, in which Rafale got failed, no aircraft is perfect.

Hot and high - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

also not just Rafale but 4 mmrca contenders failed in leh trials:

http://livefist.blogspot.in/2010/03/four-mmrca-contenders-fail-leh-trials.html

 

[Matrixx]

But LCA passed in Leh....

 

[arp2041]

But LCA passed in Leh....

cancel Rafale deal than, induct LCA.............

 

[rai_kamal]

But LCA passed in Leh....

Didn't heard it before, koi source hai bhai..
agar sahi hai to jalsa,..

 

[kurup]

Didn't heard it before, koi source hai bhai..
agar sahi hai to jalsa,..

He must be referring to this ......

Tejas (LCA) Fighter Jet High-Altitude Trials at Leh Successful: DRDO

India's indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) has achieved a major milestone when its prototype landed at Leh air base in the high-altitude Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir. "Tejas (LCA) programme reached a major milestone when the prototype vehicle PV-3 landed at Leh on December 13 this year at 1326 hours," Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) officials said here on Tuesday.

The event is seen as significant on many counts as Leh airfield is situated at an altitude of 10,600 feet and is one of the highest airfields in the world with a temperature variation ranging from plus 5 degrees Celsius to minus 20 degrees Celsius. The objective of the current phase of flight trials at Leh was to expose the on-board systems to the extreme low temperatures while making an assessment of the aircraft performance in the rarefied atmospheric conditions, DRDO officials said.

Two Tejas prototypes PV-3 and LSP-2 were involved in this important environmental test. The LSP-2 prototype powered by the latest IN20 engine with Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC) is in the Standard of Preparation (SOP) that would be cleared for induction into the IAF service soon. As per reports received from the trial location, the current phase of flight trial was progressing well with aircraft and systems performing well, as expected, officials said.

The aircraft were soaked overnight in cold weather, with temperature around minus 20 degrees Celsius and powered up next day for operation, officials said.

Tejas (LCA) Fighter Jet High-Altitude Trials at Leh Successful: DRDO | India Defence

Four MMRCA Contenders Fail Leh Trials!

It's the latest tidbit on India's $12-billion Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) competition that's doing the rounds (and it was first reported by The Hindu on Tuesday). Four of the contenders that underwent cold-weather evaluation trials at Leh didn't meet performance requirements. OK, major understatement. Four of the contenders bit dust in Leh. Read that again: four aircraft. That's huge. It's still unclear which part of the Leh test the four aircraft types failed at, though it is quite clear that it was either the switch off/on after landing, or the take-off with meaningful combat load at that altitude. The only thing that appears true is that four aircraft failed the trial -- it is totally anyone's guess which these are. Any want to hazard a try?

Livefist: Four MMRCA Contenders Fail Leh Trials!

 

[IND151]

awesome article

 

[arp2041]

Rafale F3 AESA, announced slight delay!

Earlier this year, Thales to Dassault Aviation delivered the first radar RBE2 (Radar Electronic Scan 2 shots) active antenna series, mounted on the Rafale serial No: C137 RBE2 the first AESA (Active Electronicaly Scanned Array) of series conducted a flight test campaign of three months on the basis of Istres.

On schedule at this time, the first unit should then be delivered to the Air Force in late August and be followed by five aircraft by the end of this year.

But we must unfortunately rely on a flexible program with the delivery of the device on the end of September airbase Mont-de-Marsan, before joining his assignment within the EC-5/330 "Silver Coast "or the testing center, the EHIC.

If the official reasons to delay are currently unknown, in defense of the manufacturer, any new technology may at one time or another ask for some corrections or deepening of the implementation.

Anyway, if this delay does not affect the development of the Rafale program nor its general smooth, the result is a shift in regard to the arrival of the AESA radar in the Army air. In fact, the next Rafale will be delivered, therefore, still equipped with the radar RBE2 PESA (Passive Electronically Scanned Array) and this until the end of 2013.

The Air Force should continue to receive PESA radar equipped aircraft until the end about 2013, and declare an initial operational implementation of EASA early 2014.

Reminder:

PESA radar:

This technology is in response to mechanical aperture radar, radar PESA (Passive Electronically Scanned Array) representing increasing miniaturization of components related to radar that enabled its emergence. Its technology is difficult to control (miniaturization) but brings many advantages over older technologies of radar:

- Radar extreme flexibility. Modules can be divided into "sub-radar" each with a different spot (air-air, air-ground interference ...)

- Increase the scope. Transmit power and their reach is increased from 20 to 70% from a PESA radar.

- Stealth and jamming resistance (simultaneous work on different frequencies).

- Reliability (no mechanical redundancy of the antennas).

- Many potential applications (directed energy weapon, high-speed transmission ...).

The AESA radar:

- The increased range allows full use of new weapons like the METEOR missile and allows increased detection of small targets at signing.
- Increased reliability for considering 10 years of using the active antenna without maintenance.
- The agility of waveforms to obtain images with synthetic aperture (SAR) of high resolution and increase the strength of radar jamming.

Rafale F3 AESA, léger retard annoncé ! : avia news

 

[swathi]

He must be referring to this ......

Tejas (LCA) Fighter Jet High-Altitude Trials at Leh Successful: DRDO

India's indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) has achieved a major milestone when its prototype landed at Leh air base in the high-altitude Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir. "Tejas (LCA) programme reached a major milestone when the prototype vehicle PV-3 landed at Leh on December 13 this year at 1326 hours," Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) officials said here on Tuesday.

The event is seen as significant on many counts as Leh airfield is situated at an altitude of 10,600 feet and is one of the highest airfields in the world with a temperature variation ranging from plus 5 degrees Celsius to minus 20 degrees Celsius. The objective of the current phase of flight trials at Leh was to expose the on-board systems to the extreme low temperatures while making an assessment of the aircraft performance in the rarefied atmospheric conditions, DRDO officials said.

Two Tejas prototypes PV-3 and LSP-2 were involved in this important environmental test. The LSP-2 prototype powered by the latest IN20 engine with Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC) is in the Standard of Preparation (SOP) that would be cleared for induction into the IAF service soon. As per reports received from the trial location, the current phase of flight trial was progressing well with aircraft and systems performing well, as expected, officials said.

The aircraft were soaked overnight in cold weather, with temperature around minus 20 degrees Celsius and powered up next day for operation, officials said.

Tejas (LCA) Fighter Jet High-Altitude Trials at Leh Successful: DRDO | India Defence

Four MMRCA Contenders Fail Leh Trials!

It's the latest tidbit on India's $12-billion Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) competition that's doing the rounds (and it was first reported by The Hindu on Tuesday). Four of the contenders that underwent cold-weather evaluation trials at Leh didn't meet performance requirements. OK, major understatement. Four of the contenders bit dust in Leh. Read that again: four aircraft. That's huge. It's still unclear which part of the Leh test the four aircraft types failed at, though it is quite clear that it was either the switch off/on after landing, or the take-off with meaningful combat load at that altitude. The only thing that appears true is that four aircraft failed the trial -- it is totally anyone's guess which these are. Any want to hazard a try?

Livefist: Four MMRCA Contenders Fail Leh Trials!

Post Tejas related articles in that particular seperate thread.

CC: Octopus: I wont be surprised if they again conduct trials for Tejas in 2025.

 

[kurup]

Post Tejas related articles in that particular seperate thread.

CC: Octopus: I wont be surprised if they again conduct trials for Tejas in 2025.

raj_kamal asked for a source of LCA passing leh test ...... hence posted there .........

 

[DrSomnath999]

Well arp no i had not posted those 1st 3 pics .good find .I would copy those 1st 3 pics in my rafale enclopedia thread under ur
credit
Thank U