Dassault Rafale - Updates and Discussion

Shan said:
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Taiwan Eyes Dassault Rafale Fighters as China Tensions Escalate – Dassault CEO Confirms Interest - Defence Security Asia

Dassault CEO confirms Taiwan’s interest in Rafale jets as tensions with China escalate, raising geopolitical stakes and testing France’s diplomatic resolve.
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Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier has revealed Taiwan’s keen interest in acquiring Rafale multirole fighter jets to replace its aging Mirage 2000-5 fleet, a move that could reshape the balance of power in the Taiwan Strait and heighten tensions with China.
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The question is would the French govt agree to the sale. PRC will not take kindly to any sale of big ticket mil hardware to Taiwan. Only the US has managed to resist the pressure and only recently, at that.

Multiple US Presidents (Obama, Bush Jr) delayed the sale of 66 F-16C/Ds to Taiwan for years fearing Chinese blowback until Trump came along in 2016. Macron has gone out of his way to humor China in the past. He can't afford to piss Xi off.
 
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Shan said:
TW would be less interested in purchasing Indian defence equipment as it tends to align itself more with NATO for its defence needs. U.S has been a reliable supplier for them and they are unlikely to change gears for now. I saw the HIMARS has also made its way over recently. If I were to talk of network centric warfare and weapons system integration, the Mk1A will finding itself lacking (you can check the FAs in service right now).

Coming to SK. The KF-21 Blk1 is a 4++ generation aircraft and can be a good purchase. However, there are NATO aircrafts with comparable performance that can be considered to be front runners. These are battle proven in comparison.
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Watched Dr Kota Harinarayana interview with Republic TV , he said Tejas is a true system of systems that could incorporate any weapon or system from any source west / russia / indigenous.. such sort of capabilities are not present in any other fighters ..

He asked not to fall in Su57 / F35 trap, where to even change small thing , it's cumbersome and expensive.


Other than that we could use it for hedging against J35 sale to Pakistan.

But Yes buying new fighter with new MRO , training , spares etc will be hassle compared to getting US / French fighter.
 
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Sathya said:
Watched Dr Kota Harinarayana interview with Republic TV , he said Tejas is a true system of systems that could incorporate any weapon or system from any source west / russia / indigenous.. such sort of capabilities are not present in any other fighters ..

He asked not to fall in Su57 / F35 trap, where to even change small thing , it's cumbersome and expensive.


Other than that we could use it for hedging against J35 sale to Pakistan.

But Yes buying new fighter with new MRO , training , spares etc will be hassle compared to getting US / French fighter.
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J-35 is a very different aircraft in comparison to Tejas. A sale of Tejas to TW will not provide TW with a power shifting strategy. The implications of a VLO aircraft being inducted is quite different in comparison to a 4th gen. aircraft.

Exactly, they have an ecosystem that is built differently.
 
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Delivery of the 300th Rafale​

The production of the 300th Rafale has been completed a few days ago. This milestone reflects the operational, industrial, and commercial success of this combat aircraft, which has no equivalent in its category in terms of versatility and proven operational effectiveness.

Saint-Cloud, France, October 7, 2025 – The production of the 300th Rafale has been completed a few days ago. This milestone reflects the operational, industrial, and commercial success of this combat aircraft, which has no equivalent in its category in terms of versatility and proven operational effectiveness.

Under the oversight of the Direction générale de l’Armement and the engineering management of Dassault Aviation, the Rafale program brings along 400 French companies. It is a cornerstone of France’s industrial and military sovereignty thanks to the critical technologies it has developed and the export successes it has achieved.

To date, 533 Rafale aircraft have received firm orders from France and eight export customer countries. Thus, 233 examples are yet to be delivered, with production rates planned to increase to 4 aircraft per month.

The first Rafale units became operational in the French Navy in 2004 and in the French Air Force in 2006. Export deliveries began in 2015 (Egypt).
 
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La France devrait commander beaucoup plus de Rafale à Dassault Aviation
France is expected to order many more Rafale aircraft from Dassault Aviation

France ready to order 61 additional Rafale aircraft

In the 2026 draft budget, the Ministry of the Armed Forces mentions a target of 286 Rafale aircraft (compared to 225 currently). In addition, it will order two additional fighter jets in 2026 following the crash of two Air Force Rafale aircraft in August 2024.

le-rafale-interesse-taiwan-1758966303_fecb8a30b7d8603db8a30b7d8d6db8v_.jpg


More than 60 additional Rafale aircraft (61 to be exact) for the Air Force and Navy... In the budget documents for the 2026 finance bill, the new Rafale target could reach up to 286 fighter jets to deal with all threats and the increase in missions. ‘The programme target may be adjusted to ensure consistency with the fleet format provided for in the military programming law (LPM),’ the Ministry of Economy soberly explains in the 2026 draft budget.

Until now, the overall fleet planned by the 2013 White Paper on Defence and National Security and the 2019-2025 LPM provided for 225 Rafales, including 185 for the Air and Space Force and 40 for the Navy. The 2024-2030 Military Programming Law currently provides for a Rafale fleet (Air and Navy) of 178 aircraft by the end of 2030 and 225 aircraft by 2035. The Rafale (air) made its first series flight in 1998, followed by the French Navy in 1999.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
 
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rafalenews.blogspot.com

Air and Cosmos insight on the future Rafale

This week issue of Air and Cosmos magazine brings some additional information regarding the future development path of the Rafale. First...
rafalenews.blogspot.com rafalenews.blogspot.com

First, the radar : the current RBE-2 AESA provides 10° more azimut coverage compared to the PESA version (70° vs 60°) and an increased range of more than 40%
In order to meet the UAE requirement, the power output will be increased from 9.6 kW to 14 kW by changing the cooling pomp. This should provide an additional 10% range bonus.
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The power output for the RBe2 AESA is 9.6kw. The UAE when they were looking at the aircraft in the late 2000s. There was an upgrade to 14kw outside of the F3r standard that the UAEwanted that would improve range by about 10%. I’m not sure if that was ever implemented on the F4 or if they simply plan to hold out till F5 and the GaN radar.

Most 2000s AESA from that time frame are 10-15kw. Take APG-79 for example
 

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They need a new radar and it's being delayed developed for FCAS /F5, I don't doubt that it will be a big upgrade, but far too late for the current rafale
They could stick the F-22/35 radar antenna to the Rafale and they would still have an obsolete POS, The lack of modes, with 60-70's tech makes the back-end dumb,
 
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F-2 said:
rafalenews.blogspot.com

Air and Cosmos insight on the future Rafale

This week issue of Air and Cosmos magazine brings some additional information regarding the future development path of the Rafale. First...
rafalenews.blogspot.com rafalenews.blogspot.com



The power output for the RBe2 AESA is 9.6kw. The UAE when they were looking at the aircraft in the late 2000s. There was an upgrade to 14kw outside of the F3r standard that the UAEwanted that would improve range by about 10%. I’m not sure if that was ever implemented on the F4 or if they simply plan to hold out till F5 and the GaN radar.

Most 2000s AESA from that time frame are 10-15kw. Take APG-79 for example
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It is a 2011 Air & Cosmos.... The then RBE2 AESA radar was the prototyp made of US T/R modules. It needs a costly upgrade of the cooling system because of a higher output power, for "just" a 40% range improvement.

The serially made radar, first delivered in 2013, showed a 100% range increase vs PESA radar. Mainly thanks to the higher efficiency of the european T/R modules (or the poor quality of the modules given by our "ally" USA....)
Optimist said:
They need a new radar and it's being delayed developed for FCAS /F5, I don't doubt that it will be a big upgrade, but far too late for the current rafale
They could stick the F-22/35 radar antenna to the Rafale and they would still have an obsolete POS, The lack of modes, with 60-70's tech makes the back-end dumb,
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The classical french bashing of our pessimist forumer.
As usual, it is Bull Shit.
 
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