Rafale DH/EH of Indian Air Force : News and Discussions

But how efficient is it when flying like that. How far can it fly with a meaningful payload with such a flight profile.

The approach to carrier landing lasts only for a few minutes. Whereas Jaguar is designed for low level flight as its primary mode of operation.
And Rafale is able to fly at 100 feets above water automatically for as long as you want and 200 feets in the same conditions above ground even mountainous !
 
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And Rafale is able to fly at 100 feets above water automatically for as long as you want and 200 feets in the same conditions above ground even mountainous !
IAF practises flying 100ft or even below with their Jaguars. As per Vstol sir, this strategy was more successfu(flying low to suddenly pop out and deliver PGMs) than what Rafale could muster during the latest Ops.
 
IAF practises flying 100ft or even below with their Jaguars. As per Vstol sir, this strategy was more successfu(flying low to suddenly pop out and deliver PGMs) than what Rafale could muster during the latest Ops.
But @vstol Jockey's goal is to deny all of the Rafale's qualities. He says that it cannot get close enough to fire AASMs, while the IAF says that it has achieved its objectives using Brahmos, Scalps, and AASMs. One day he is in favour of the Rafale and says that we are going to sell 300 of them, and the next day he is against it without worrying about the consistency of his statements. What matters to him is pleasing the forum.
 
But @vstol Jockey's goal is to deny all of the Rafale's qualities. He says that it cannot get close enough to fire AASMs, while the IAF says that it has achieved its objectives using Brahmos, Scalps, and AASMs. One day he is in favour of the Rafale and says that we are going to sell 300 of them, and the next day he is against it without worrying about the consistency of his statements. What matters to him is pleasing the forum.
Don't think he is dissing Rafale rather Hammer's short range. Anyways, with TASL-Dassault deal, more Rafales are a given.
 
But @vstol Jockey's goal is to deny all of the Rafale's qualities. He says that it cannot get close enough to fire AASMs, while the IAF says that it has achieved its objectives using Brahmos, Scalps, and AASMs. One day he is in favour of the Rafale and says that we are going to sell 300 of them, and the next day he is against it without worrying about the consistency of his statements. What matters to him is pleasing the forum.
Bro, on 7th early morning, Rafale were given a target which was very close to the IB between India and Pakistan. Just about 70kms in. That needed Rafale to go very close to IB and even enter Pak airspace. The short range of Hammer, brought Rafale very close to interception by the BVRAAMs fired by PAF J-10c. Su-30MKI and M2k performed better as they had many stand off range weapons integerated in them jointly develoved by India and Israel. Rafale did their job but were hit while retreating and the MAWS on Rafale are mounted on the tail which had very poor coverage in rear sector. SU-30MKI have very good rear area coverage due to its extended tail for MAWS. SU-30MKI defeated over 8 PL-15s due to this but Rafale was not that good. Plus just like our Astra Missile, PL-15 uses Ka band as its seeker and Indian Rafale has till not been modified for ESM for 40GHz. and Speectra too has no jamming available in that frequency band. It was part of India specific enhancements which have been paid by India but DA has failed to do those enhancements till date. Indian and Frecnch Rafale have no ability to detect or counter PL-15 as they just do not have the ability to detect them incoming. BUT hold on for real story and dont get fooled by propaganda. We switched to Scalp as a result of exposing Rafale to BVRAAMS of PAF. That made it very costly and so Jags with Rampage missiles performed and did a better job than Rafale. There is lot to be told about Rafale story. Hold your breath, It is not what is being claimed or stated. Wait for Air to air kills of Rafale. You need more weapons with stand off ranges on Rafale and you dont need to modify spectra when you are way beyond harm. Just be a striker with Meteor and other systems. I still maintain that no Rafale was lost and 2 may have got hit by splinters which landed back safely. Maybe we lost a Mig-29 and a M2K. Thats all.
 
Bro, on 7th early morning, Rafale were given a target which was very close to the IB between India and Pakistan. Just about 70kms in. That needed Rafale to go very close to IB and even enter Pak airspace. The short range of Hammer, brought Rafale very close to interception by the BVRAAMs fired by PAF J-10c. Su-30MKI and M2k performed better as they had many stand off range weapons integerated in them jointly develoved by India and Israel. Rafale did their job but were hit while retreating and the MAWS on Rafale are mounted on the tail which had very poor coverage in rear sector. SU-30MKI have very good rear area coverage due to its extended tail for MAWS. SU-30MKI defeated over 8 PL-15s due to this but Rafale was not that good. Plus just like our Astra Missile, PL-15 uses Ka band as its seeker and Indian Rafale has till not been modified for ESM for 40GHz. and Speectra too has no jamming available in that frequency band. It was part of India specific enhancements which have been paid by India but DA has failed to do those enhancements till date. Indian and Frecnch Rafale have no ability to detect or counter PL-15 as they just do not have the ability to detect them incoming. BUT hold on for real story and dont get fooled by propaganda. We switched to Scalp as a result of exposing Rafale to BVRAAMS of PAF. That made it very costly and so Jags with Rampage missiles performed and did a better job than Rafale. There is lot to be told about Rafale story. Hold your breath, It is not what is being claimed or stated. Wait for Air to air kills of Rafale. You need more weapons with stand off ranges on Rafale and you dont need to modify spectra when you are way beyond harm. Just be a striker with Meteor and other systems. I still maintain that no Rafale was lost and 2 may have got hit by splinters which landed back safely. Maybe we lost a Mig-29 and a M2K. Thats all.
1. MKI has MAWS in tail? I think it has two RWR antennas as MAWS is still not operational, IMHO.

2. Astra and PL-15 have Ka band seeker? AFAIK they have Ku-Band ones.

3. That SPECTRA claim by you is huge! Kindly delete it as it could be OPSEC violation(my humble request)🙏🙏
 
Bro, on 7th early morning, Rafale were given a target which was very close to the IB between India and Pakistan. Just about 70kms in. That needed Rafale to go very close to IB and even enter Pak airspace. The short range of Hammer, brought Rafale very close to interception by the BVRAAMs fired by PAF J-10c. Su-30MKI and M2k performed better as they had many stand off range weapons integerated in them jointly develoved by India and Israel. Rafale did their job but were hit while retreating and the MAWS on Rafale are mounted on the tail which had very poor coverage in rear sector. SU-30MKI have very good rear area coverage due to its extended tail for MAWS. SU-30MKI defeated over 8 PL-15s due to this but Rafale was not that good. Plus just like our Astra Missile, PL-15 uses Ka band as its seeker and Indian Rafale has till not been modified for ESM for 40GHz. and Speectra too has no jamming available in that frequency band. It was part of India specific enhancements which have been paid by India but DA has failed to do those enhancements till date. Indian and Frecnch Rafale have no ability to detect or counter PL-15 as they just do not have the ability to detect them incoming. BUT hold on for real story and dont get fooled by propaganda. We switched to Scalp as a result of exposing Rafale to BVRAAMS of PAF. That made it very costly and so Jags with Rampage missiles performed and did a better job than Rafale. There is lot to be told about Rafale story. Hold your breath, It is not what is being claimed or stated. Wait for Air to air kills of Rafale. You need more weapons with stand off ranges on Rafale and you dont need to modify spectra when you are way beyond harm. Just be a striker with Meteor and other systems. I still maintain that no Rafale was lost and 2 may have got hit by splinters which landed back safely. Maybe we lost a Mig-29 and a M2K. Thats all.
I can't believe that Spectra doesn't have its ISEs. The BS001 was supposed to remain in France until it had its ISEs and be delivered with its ISEs, and then the ISEs were supposed to be deployed on all the other Rafales already delivered. If that hadn't happened, it would have been a scandal and Dassault would have had to pay penalties. India does not hesitate to apply penalties when they are due, and sometimes even applies them wrongly, as in the case of MDBA, where it applied penalties believing that the MDBA contract had been signed at the same time as the Rafale contract. So your story seems very dubious to me.

What's more, the Rafale has no problem approaching SAMs in terrain following mode and should be hidden in the ground clutter for SAAB's AWACS due to its distance and Spectra, so something went wrong.
 
I can't believe that Spectra doesn't have its ISEs. The BS001 was supposed to remain in France until it had its ISEs and be delivered with its ISEs, and then the ISEs were supposed to be deployed on all the other Rafales already delivered. If that hadn't happened, it would have been a scandal and Dassault would have had to pay penalties. India does not hesitate to apply penalties when they are due, and sometimes even applies them wrongly, as in the case of MDBA, where it applied penalties believing that the MDBA contract had been signed at the same time as the Rafale contract. So your story seems very dubious to me.

What's more, the Rafale has no problem approaching SAMs in terrain following mode and should be hidden in the ground clutter for SAAB's AWACS due to its distance and Spectra, so something went wrong.
Yeah something went wrong it's called 4th gen fighter being seen by AWACS and by enemy 4th gen fighters with modern AESA radars with long range BVR missiles. How did it go wrong? :unsure:
 
Yeah something went wrong it's called 4th gen fighter being seen by AWACS and by enemy 4th gen fighters with modern AESA radars with long range BVR missiles. How did it go wrong? :unsure:
Modern radars have become so great that even 5th gens like F-35 would get tracked by 'em. Modern IADS employs multiple radars of different Bands all sensor-fused to make stealth completely useless. Try breaching any advance IADS with your 5th gens, then thou shall know;)
 
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Modern radars have become so great that even 5th gens like F-35 would get tracked by 'em. Modern IADS employs multiple radars of different Bands all sensor-fused to make stealth completely useless. Try breaching any advance IADS with your 5th gens, then thou shall know;)
No. Spoken like a nation that doesn't fly stealth fighters or have a 50 year history of stealth aircraft program.

US has a plethora of air and ground base AESA antennas that B-2's, F-22's and F-35's have tested. When it comes to deep tight penetration (excuse me for fanning myself) of modern IADS and destroying them the USAF and USN is in a class of its own. I think Israel is second in this capability, but they are a distant second. US was able to jam china's most power AESA ship antenna that is on the type055 when it tried to get cute and track Pelosi's plane to get her aircrafts RWR to start screaming. When US creates an advanced capable weapon system/tech they try to figure out a way to counter it.
 
No. Spoken like a nation that doesn't fly stealth fighters or have a 50 year history of stealth aircraft program.

US has a plethora of air and ground base AESA antennas that B-2's, F-22's and F-35's have tested. When it comes to deep tight penetration (excuse me for fanning myself) of modern IADS and destroying them the USAF and USN is in a class of its own. I think Israel is second in this capability, but they are a distant second. US was able to jam china's most power AESA ship antenna that is on the type055 when it tried to get cute and track Pelosi's plane to get her aircrafts RWR to start screaming. When US creates an advanced capable weapon system/tech they try to figure out a way to counter it.
If 5th gen stealth was be all end all then USAF won't have wanted F-47 or USN F/A-XX in the first place! Fact is radar tech is evolving at such a rapid pace(even faster than Airframe shaped passive stealth tech) that even with F-47 and the likes the best USAF would hope to achieve over China is temporary area Air-Superiority. Forget about air-dominance.

Plus, Uncle Sam is extremely clever and doesn't fight fair. It's not just passive-stealth as the sole war-winning means but American joint force-structure, their Space tech, their offensive EW and whole gambit of other tools they use to dominate an adversary.

Why do you need AIM-174B if F-35 + AIM-120D3 combo is good enough to pound PLAAF? Go and muse over this and then come back to me.
 
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No. Spoken like a nation that doesn't fly stealth fighters or have a 50 year history of stealth aircraft program.

US has a plethora of air and ground base AESA antennas that B-2's, F-22's and F-35's have tested. When it comes to deep tight penetration (excuse me for fanning myself) of modern IADS and destroying them the USAF and USN is in a class of its own. I think Israel is second in this capability, but they are a distant second.


US was able to jam china's most power AESA ship antenna that is on the type055 when it tried to get cute and track Pelosi's plane to get her aircrafts RWR to start screaming. When US creates an advanced capable weapon system/tech they try to figure out a way to counter it.
I see sweetie's still acting as the unofficial spokesperson for the DoD here quoting an incident from 2022 as if the world especially China froze after that & never recovered from the incident.


Let me know if you want to read more about how's China going about countering stealth platforms the US will feature against it . Believe me after reading it all that deep tight penetration you fantasise about would turn into a gaping hole ( excuse me , for fanning myself ) . Pun absolutely unintended . Ja ?
 
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1. MKI has MAWS in tail? I think it has two RWR antennas as MAWS is still not operational, IMHO.

2. Astra and PL-15 have Ka band seeker? AFAIK they have Ku-Band ones.

3. That SPECTRA claim by you is huge! Kindly delete it as it could be OPSEC violation(my humble request)🙏🙏
I stand corrected, its the RWR and not MAWS. But MKIs have much higher frequency band on its RWRs.
 
If 5th gen stealth was be all end all then USAF won't have wanted F-47 or USN F/A-XX in the first place! Fact is radar tech is evolving at such a rapid pace(even faster than Airframe shaped passive stealth tech) that even with F-47 and the likes the best USAF would hope to achieve over China is temporary area Air-Superiority. Forget about air-dominance.

That's not how it works for US MIC. When the F-47 enters service the 7th gen will be in prototype stage. When it comes to US military aviation the trick is to not stop just because an advanced fighter has entered service and will be dominant for the next 30-40 years.
Plus, Uncle Sam is extremely clever and doesn't fight fair. It's not just passive-stealth as the sole war-winning means but American joint force-structure, their Space tech, their offensive EW and whole gambit of other tools they use to dominate an adversary.

Which is why any conflict with china the US is going to dominate not only the battlefield but the battlespace picture and EM realm. chinas "6th gen" are nothing but empty shells. They won't have anything close to joint-domain capability like the F-22, F-35 and latest 4th gen fighters. Their J-36 still uses HUDs for crying out loud.
Why do you need AIM-174B if F-35 + AIM-120D3 combo is good enough to pound PLAAF? Go and muse over this and then come back to me.

Because the USN has more 4th gen fighters than F-35C's which will be like this for years to come. AIM-174B gives the Hornet the ability to survive a modern air war. F-35C's will be cueing targets for Hornets armed with AIM-174B. The air launched B supposedly has a 250-300 mile range.
 

I dont think f35 can do this,infact such thing is not required for F35 or any other stealth aircraft as on today.
It can but why would you? It's been an obsolete tactic with the Jaguars since 1990. Just google how in Iraq they had to fly higher to get away from low to medium ground weapons.
.Forget the poor Iraq defence, You aren't going to hide. They didn't have look down AEW&E either. Forget about the black space sensors,

Note how the French still think it's real, thank god for ????? They will think of something to say.
 
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Not sure what you're getting at.

What we know for sure is that nobody is making aircraft that are designed specifically for stable, low-level, low-speed flight anymore cuz the risk-reward equation for such flight profiles no longer makes sense. What Rafale (or any other MRFA, or even Tejas Mk-2 or F-35) can do with low level flight is not exactly what planes like Jag or JH-7 were designed for.

Compared to them, even Rafale is much more biased toward high-altitude, high-speed flight.

You can kinda see this with missiles too. The low flying SCALP, despite being stealthy, has suffered much more attrition than the BrahMos. Low level AD has gotten very very good.

The Israelis have the F-35, but plan to use the same weapons we used against Pakistan, like Rampage. The F-35 is also made for stable low-altitude flight. Dunno why you think that is not so.

You are saying low-altitude penetration will not be done, but it's not going out of fashion anytime soon. Even B-21 is expected to do that.

The point is low altitude is the safest altitude for a jet, the opposite of your claim.

I didn't bring up Rafale.