The surprise elimination of the Eurofighter Typhoon from Singapore’s fighter contest has focused more attention on the Dassault Rafale, the remaining European contender. The contest has turned into a grudge match, because the last time that the Rafale was up against the Boeing F-15 — in Korea — Dassault and the French government were convinced that it was only U.S. government pressure that swung the contest against them.
In the three years since Korea, the Rafale program has passed several important milestones, including the integration of several advanced weapons. Rather than offering an as-yet-undeveloped ‘Mk 2’ version, as it did in Korea, Dassault can sell Singapore an in-production fighter with a fully funded development program.
Rafale Displays
Rafale’s cockpit displays are unique. The pilot’s view is dominated by a wide-field-of-view (WFOV) head-up display and the unique head-level display (HLD). The latter is a high-definition full-color LCD screen, collimated at infinity, with the same field of view as the HUD. The coaming which separates the HUD from the HLD is on the pilot’s eye-line, while the HLD projects from the panel so that the viewing screen is close to the pilot’s face.
Visually, the effect is of a very large, bright and clear display (it looks large because it is almost literally at the end of your nose). The pilot can glance between the HLD and the HUD with an eye movement, without having to refocus.
The Rafale’s five-inch-square touch-screen displays, located on either side of the HLD, make more space for glass by eliminating the push-button around the bezel. Other designers have avoided touch-screens because they are seen as too hard to use in turbulence or maneuvering flight. Dassault and Thales have developed their own screens that provide tactile feedback – the screen clicks and moves when pushed – and allow the pilot to brace his arm for accurate use in turbulence or under g. Special silk-lined gloves include seamless fingertips and a chamois back to wipe any hand-prints off the screen. A similar touch-panel allows the pilot to interact with the HLD.
Rafale was declared operational with the French Navy last year. The French Air Force should start forming its first squadron around the end of the year — Escadrille de Chasse 1/7, at St. Dizier — and full operational capability is scheduled for September 2006. A French government order for 59 Rafales, announced in December 2004, brings total orders to 120 aircraft, for delivery by the end of 2011.
The first French Air Force operational version of Rafale is known as Standard F2. This introduces a new modular mission computer and incorporates the frontal sector optronics (FSO) system in two turrets ahead of the windshield. Weapons include the MBDA SCALP cruise missile, the radar- and IR-guided versions of the MBDA MICA, and the GPS/inertial/IR-guided AASM (Armement Air-Sol Modulaire (AASM). Rafale will carry up to six of the SAGEM-developed AASMs on triple wing racks. SCALP tests from Rafale were completed at the end of 2004 and guided AASM tests are due this fall. F2 includes most of the functions of the Thales Spectra electronic warfare system.
One of those functions — as first reported by Show News — is active cancellation, a unique EW technique that locates an enemy radar in range and bearing, calculates the scatter that it will receive from the Rafale, and transmits an exact mimic of the aircraft’s actual echo — but one-half wavelength out of phase, so that the radar sees nothing. If it works effectively, this will make the Rafale harder to detect and track than anything except an all-out stealth aircraft.
The Rafale team has been under contract since February 2004 to develop the definitive Standard F3 Rafale, which is due to be operational in 2008 and would be the version offered to Singapore. F3 is primarily a matter of software and weapon clearances. It adds a synthetic aperture radar mode for the Thales RBE 2 electronically scanned radar (ESA), plus remaining Spectra modes. The new version will include the Sagem Gerfaut helmet-mounted display, based on the Denel Archer. The Thales Damocles third-generation targeting pod will allow the fighter to self-designate laser-guided bombs and geo-locate targets of opportunity for AASM, and the Reco-NG reconnaissance pod will also be integrated.
Under F3, Rafale is expected to exploit a unique feature of MICA IR — its combination of an imaging IR seeker with mid-course guidance, using inertial navigation coupled with a datalink — to hit targets beyond either visual or seeker range without any radar emissions.
France has no current requirement for an active ESA radar, but is funding its development as a future upgrade and to support exports. Dassault and Thales tested an active ESA on the Rafale, in May 2003. However, this prototype radar relied on U.S.-produced high-power processing chips. A new AESA version of the RBE2, DRAAMA (demonstrateur de radar a l’antenne active, modes avancees), using all-European technology, was launched in July 2004 and will be ready in 2007-08. —Bill Sweetman
