Aircraft Profile: Dassault Rafale

The Rafale is a twin-engined, delta-wing, multirole fighter designed and built by France’s Dassault Aviation.

Available in single- or two-seat variants and as a single-seat carrier-capable fighter, the Rafale entered service with the French navy in late 2000 and the French air force in 2004.

Powered by two Snecma M88 turbofans (prototype examples used two General Electric F404-400s), the Rafale has a top speed of over Mach 1.8 (1,900km/h) and a combat radius of 1,000nm (1,850km).

The Rafale can carry a variety of weapons on its 14 hardpoints, including MBDA’s Mica air-to-air missile, AM39 Exocet anti-ship missile and ASMP-A nuclear weapon, and Raytheon’s GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bomb. The type is also slated to receive MBDA’s developmental Meteor beyond visual-range air-to-air missile.

Cockpit equipment includes Thales’s Spectra integrated avionics suite.

History:

The origins of the Rafale can be traced back to discussions between European nations in the late 1970s which would eventually produce the Eurofighter Typhoon. The differing requirements of the individual nations led to France going it alone with the Rafale, the first prototype of which flew in early 1986.