rafale fighting aircraft information
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Answer: Known as the 4.5 generation aircraft, the Rafale is considered to be one of the finest fighters in the world and is described as an ‘omnirole’ aircraft that can take up several missions on a single flight.
With its avionics, radars and weapon systems, the Rafale is the most potent aircraft in South Asia, much ahead of the F-16s that Pakistan uses or even the JF-20, the 5th generation stealth aircraft of China, which is yet to see combat.
Rafale are combat-proven having been inducted into conflicts in Afghanistan, Mali, Libya, Iraq and Syria.
With a range of 3,700 km, Rafale comes with its 10-tonne empty weight. It is fitted with 14 hard points. Five of these hard points are capable of drop tanks and heavy ordnance. Total external load capacity is 9.5 tonnes, which means that the Rafale can lift the equivalent of its own empty weight in payloads.
The maximum take off weight is 24.5 tonnes and the fighter can carry 4.7 tonnes of internal fuel and up to 6.6 tonnes external.
With a maximum speed of nearly twice the speed of sound, the landing ground run is 450 metres without drag-chute.
The biggest force-enabler for the IAF is the weapon-carrying capability of the Rafale, which can be tuned for delivering nuclear weapons too.
The game-changing missile on-board the Rafale is the over Rs 20-crore worth Meteor air-to-air missile.
Manufactured by European firm MBDA, the Meteor is a long-range rocket and ram-jet powered, and its integration into the Rafale weapon system brings about a paradigm shift in air-to-air affairs since it has a range of over 150 km with a zero escape kill distance of 120 km.
It means an Indian Rafale jet will be able to shoot down an enemy aircraft, even if over 100 km away, without even crossing the Indian air space.
Neither Pakistan nor China possess a weapon as deadly as the Meteor.
Another key missile on-board the Rafale is the over Rs 40-crore worth Scalp long-range air-to-ground stand-off cruise missile.
Weighing 1,300 kg, the 5.1 metre-long Scalp can be carried in either one missile or two missiles configuration on the Rafale.
The missile has a 600-km range and is known for its precision. The Rafale will not have to cross the Indian airspace to hit a target that is about 600 km in enemy territory.
It is a strategic weapon that can be used in penetration, impact or airburst modes, and can even strike deep even in anti-access and area-denial scenarios.
In a bid to deploy the new Rafale aircraft quickly amid tensions with China, the IAF has opted for the French HAMMER air-to-ground precision-guided weapon system under emergency procurement.
The IAF had rejected this system eight years ago in favour of the Israeli Spice 2000 used in the Balakot air strikes in 2019.
HAMMER, which stands for Highly Agile and Manoeuvrable Munition Extended Range, costing nearly Rs one crore, consists of a guidance kit and a range extension kit fitted on standard bombs of different makes.
The original plan was to equip the Rafale with Spice 2000 kits, which have already been integrated into the other French aircraft in the IAF inventory — the Mirage 2000.
The Spice 2000 needs to be integrated into the Rafale aircraft. Keeping the cost of Spice, integration and testing in mind along with the time that the whole process will take, the IAF went in for the HAMMER.
The Rafale will also be equipped with the Mica air-to-air missiles. The IAF plans to further integrate the BrahMos NG missiles with the Rafale when it is finally made by the Indo-Russian joint venture.
The Indian Rafale comes with an Israeli Litening pod for sensor commonality across platforms in the Indian inventory and not the Thales TALIOS laser designator pod that France uses.
The Rafale comes with RBE2 Active Electronically Scanned Radar, which when compared to radars with conventional antennas, gives unprecedented levels of situational awareness with earlier detection and tracking of multiple targets.
Rafale also has the ‘Front Sector Optronics’ (FSO) system, which is immune to radar jamming while operating in the optronic wavelengths.
It also comes with Spectra-integrated electronic warfare suite that provides long-range detection, identification and localisation of infrared, electromagnetic and laser threats.
The system incorporates radar, laser and missile warning receivers for threat detection plus a phased array radar jammer and a decoy dispenser for threat countering, according to the MBDA, which had developed the system with defence contractor Thales.
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