Dassault Rafale
The Dassault Rafale is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. Equipped with a wide range of weapons, the Rafale is intended to perform air supremacy, interdiction, aerial reconnaissance, ground support, in-depth strike, anti-ship strike and nuclear deterrence missions. It is referred to as an "omnirole" aircraft by Dassault.
In the late 1970s, the French Air Force and French Navy sought to replace and consolidate their existing fleets of aircraft. In order to reduce development costs and boost prospective sales, France entered into an arrangement with the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain to produce an agile multi-purpose "Future European Fighter Aircraft". Subsequent disagreements over workshare and differing requirements led France to pursue its own development programme. Dassault built a technology demonstrator that first flew in July 1986 as part of an eight-year flight-test programme, paving the way for approval of the project.
The Rafale is distinct from other European fighters of its era in that it is almost entirely built by one country, France, involving most of France's major defence contractors, such as Dassault, Thales and Safran. Many of the aircraft's avionics and features, such as direct voice input, the RBE2 AA active electronically scanned array radar and the optronique secteur frontal infra-red search and track sensor, were domestically developed and produced for the Rafale programme. Originally scheduled to enter service in 1996, the Rafale suffered significant delays due to post-Cold War budget cuts and changes in priorities. There are three main variants: Rafale C single-seat land-based version, Rafale B twin-seat land-based version, and Rafale M single-seat carrier-based version.
Introduced in 2001, the Rafale is being produced for both the French Air Force and for carrier-based operations in the French Navy. It has been marketed for export to several countries, and was selected for purchase by the Egyptian Air Force, the Indian Air Force, the Indian Navy, the Qatar Air Force, the Hellenic Air Force, the Croatian Air Force, the Indonesian Air Force, the United Arab Emirates Air Force and the Serbian Air Force. The Rafale is considered one of the most advanced and capable warplanes in the world, and among the most successful internationally. It has been used in combat over Afghanistan, Libya, Mali, Iraq, Syria, and by India near its border with Pakistan.
Development
Background
In the mid-1970s, the French Air Force and French Navy had separate requirements for a new generation of fighters to replace those in or about to enter service. Because their requirements were similar, and to reduce cost, both services issued a common request for proposal. In 1975, the country's Ministry of Aviation initiated studies for a new aircraft to complement the upcoming and smaller Dassault Mirage 2000, with each aircraft optimized for differing roles.The Rafale aircraft development programme was the end product of efforts by various European countries for a common fighter aircraft. In 1979, Dassault-Breguet joined the MBB/BAe "European Collaborative Fighter" project which was renamed the "European Combat Aircraft". The company contributed the aerodynamic layout of a prospective twin-engine, single-seat fighter; however, the project collapsed in 1981 due to differing operational requirements of each partner country. In 1983, the "Future European Fighter Aircraft" programme was initiated, bringing together France, Italy, Spain, West Germany and the United Kingdom to jointly develop a new fighter, although the latter three had their own aircraft developments. French officials envisioned a lightweight, multirole aircraft that—in addition to fulfilling both air force and naval roles—it was believed, would be attractive on the export fighter market. This was in contrast to the British requirement for a heavy long-range interceptor. France also demanded a lead role, with the commensurate technical and industrial primacy, whereas the other countries were accepting of a more egalitarian programme structure.
There was little common ground between France and the other members of this project, but by 1983, the five countries had agreed on a European Staff Target for a future fighter. Nevertheless, differences persisted, and so France withdrew from the multilateral talks in July 1985 to preserve the technological independence of its fighter aircraft industry. West Germany, the UK and Italy opted out and established a new European Fighter Aircraft programme. In Turin, on 2 August 1985, West Germany, the UK and Italy agreed to go ahead with the EFA, and confirmed that France, along with Spain, had chosen not to proceed as a member of the project. Despite pressure from France, Spain rejoined the EFA project in early September 1985. The four-nation project eventually resulted in the Eurofighter Typhoon's development.
In France, the government proceeded with its own programme. The Ministry of Defence required an aircraft capable of air-to-air and air-to-ground, all-day and adverse weather operations. As France was the sole developer of the Rafale's airframe, avionics, propulsion system and armament, the resultant aircraft was to replace a multitude of aircraft in the French Armed Forces. The Rafale would perform roles previously filled by an assortment of specialised platforms, including the Jaguar, Mirage F1C/CR/CT, Mirage 2000C/-5/N in the French Air Force, and the F-8P Crusader, Étendard IVP/M and Super Étendard in French Naval Aviation.
Demonstration
At the same time as the multinational talks were occurring, Dassault-Breguet had been busy designing its Avion de Combat Experimental. During late 1978, prior to France's joining of the ECA, Dassault received contracts for the development of project ACT 92. The following year, the National Office for Aviation Studies and Research began studying the possible configurations of the new fighter under the codename Rapace. By March 1980, the number of configurations had been narrowed down to four, two of which had a combination of canards, delta wings and a single vertical tail-fin. The ACX project was given political impetus when the French government awarded a contract for two technology demonstrator aircraft on 13 April 1983. The government and industry would each provide half of the development cost, with first flight to take place in 1986. At the time, there was no guarantee that the effort would result in a full-scale development programme, and the aircraft remained a purely "proof-of concept" test vehicle. In an effort to harmonize design specifics with the requirements of other countries while collaboration talks were being held, Dassault sized the ACX aircraft in the 9.5 tonne range. After France decided to pull out of the multilateral talks, designers focused on a more compact size, as specified by the Air Force. The ACX programmed was renamed Rafale in April 1985.Construction of the Rafale A technology demonstrator started in 1984. It had a length of, a wingspan of, and a empty weight. The austere aircraft lacked in major subsystems, and had the minimal cockpit systems and a fly-by-wire flight control system for the validation of the design's basic airframe-engine layout. The company desired to use the Rafale A to continue the company approach of risk reduction through incremental improvement and to test the aerodynamically unstable delta wing-canard configuration. The aircraft was Dassault's 92nd prototype in 40 years. At the time of its construction, the aircraft had two General Electric F404 engines that were then in service with the F/A-18 Hornet, pending the availability of the Snecma M88 turbofan engines. It was rolled out in December 1985 at Saint-Cloud, and on 4 July 1986, made its first flight from the company's Istres test facility in southern France, piloted by Guy Mitaux-Maurouard. During the one-hour flight, the aircraft reached an altitude of and a speed of Mach 1.3. The aircraft participated in the Farnborough air show the following month.
The aircraft participated in an intensive flight test programme that saw it simulate air force and naval operations. The test vehicle flew approaches to the carrier, and also tested for coordination with. By 1987, the aircraft had been flown by Air Force, Navy and CEV test pilots. Its port-side F404 engine was replaced with the M88 in early 1990, and the aircraft flew under the updated powerplant configuration in May 1990. The aircraft thereafter attained a speed of Mach 1.4 without the use of engine reheat, thereby demonstrating supercruise. The Rafale A was used until January 1994, and was retired after 867 sorties.
The early successful demonstration programme increased French industry and government confidence in the viability of a full-scale development programme for the Rafale. In June 1987, French prime minister Jacques Chirac declared that the government would proceed with the project. A contract for four pre-production aircraft was awarded on 21 April 1988 for a test and validation programme. There was nevertheless government uncertainty in the programme, as it was expected to cost some Ffr120 billion in total development and procurement costs. Prime minister Michel Rocard was concerned about the state of the project and the failure of the previous government to secure cooperation with other countries, but stated that, "It is inconceivable that we should not be able to build the weapons necessary for our independence". France had earlier entered unsuccessful talks with Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway, about the possible collaboration on the project.
Testing
To meet the various roles expected of the new aircraft, the Air Force required two variants: the single-seat Rafale C and the Rafale B. Its first flight on 19 May 1991 occurred at the company's test facility in Istres. This signalled the start of a test programme which primarily aimed to test the M88-2 engines, human-machine interface and weapons, and expand the flight envelope. Due to budgetary constraints, the second single-seat prototype was never built. The aircraft differed significantly from the Rafale A demonstrator. Although superficially similar to the heavier test vehicle, the aircraft was smaller, with a length of and a wingspan of. It was less detectable by radar due to the canopy being gold-plated and the addition of radar-absorbent materials; Dassault had also removed the dedicated airbrake. The sole Rafale B two-seat preproduction aircraft, B01, made its first flight on 30 April 1993, and served as a platform for testing of weapons and fire-control systems, including the RBE2 radar and the SPECTRA electronic warfare suite.The first of two Rafale M prototypes, M01, made its maiden flight on 12 December 1991, followed by the second on 8 November 1993. These aircraft differed from the air force variants in having reinforced structure to allow the aircraft to operate aboard ships, and provision for a tail hook and an in-built ladder, which increased the weight of the Rafale M by over other production variants. Since France has no land-based catapult test facility, catapult trials were carried out in mid-1992 and early 1993 at the United States Navy facility at NAS Lakehurst, New Jersey. The aircraft then carried out shipboard trials aboard Foch in April 1993. The aircraft conducted landings and launches from the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle in July 1999. Testing showed that the aircraft had the ability to land with significant loads of unexpended ordnance.