Rafale to be admitted on September 10: Why is the French fighter plane really a game changer?

The Rafale has 14 anchor points where it can carry a payload of more than 9 tons.

By Group Captain Badhrish Narasimha Athreya (Retired)

There was an explosion of information, discussion and debate in abundance on the news channels and social media on July 31 this year and before, when the Rafales made their way from Merignac in France to their home in Ambala. It was about the aircraft itself, its much-acclaimed generation 4.5 capability, its weapons, and how it would be a game changer. There was live coverage of the events throughout the day from the moment they took off from the UAE to the moment they arrived in Ambala. On September 10, the Rafale will be formally incorporated into the IAF.

GAME CHANGER

A word widely used by everyone, but what does it mean exactly? What it means is that it alters the balance or shifts the paradigm. It is different from two fighters fighting with swords, one with a broadsword and the other with a curve, one incrementally better than the other. A game changer would be like introducing a weapon into a sword fight, it completely changes the rules.

So, let’s start by studying the basics of air warfare a bit. The air medium allows you to be Offensive (to enter enemy territory and destroy its assets) or Defensive (to avoid the enemy’s air offensive). The former requires that you generally carry bombs / cruise missiles / rockets etc, which would target your assets, while the latter would require you to be armed with air-to-air missiles and weapons to shoot down the intruding aircraft or air defense as is. . called.

Whereas the previous generation aircraft were optimized for a purely offensive or Air Defense role, modern generation aircraft tend to be Multi Role, that is, capable of both and more, due to inherent superior characteristics. So what are the specific qualities of the plane, its sensors, or its weapons that would give it an advantage in an air battle?

The basic design of the airplane itself. Modern generation aircraft (4 and above) due to superior aerodynamics and Fly by Wire flight controls make them extremely maneuverable and very agile. This is also largely due to the powerful yet efficient engines and therefore have excellent push-to-weight characteristics. Importantly, Gen 4.5 and above focuses on Stealth (ability to hide its presence from enemy radar and infrared sensors) and Super Cruise (ability to go supersonic for a sustained time without afterburning using excessive amounts of fuel). The Rafale is exceptionally maneuverable, has very powerful engines capable of super cruise, and while it is not stealthy, it has a fairly low radar signature (RCS).

The on-board sensor suite

These consist of your radar which is used to target aircraft in the air as well as for ground targets such as a warrior’s eyes, the further you can see the better. However, the use of its own radar gives away its presence and therefore one could rely on passive heat detection devices called IRST (infrared search and track) that would conceal its presence while allowing it to target the enemy. The self-defense capability consisting of your Electronic Warfare suite and associated systems (which will prevent an enemy from detecting your aircraft or could also block and confuse an enemy radar and even weapons that have been launched, keeping you safe) is vital. The secure data link and communications, which help to share information on a network, allow an aircraft today to be part of a team of ground radars, the AWACS and any other friendly AC (including UAVs and drones) in the Operations Area . Sensor Fusion is combining all of the information from “his” with its own, to form a composite image of the Air Battle, presented to the pilot in an extremely user-friendly way that enhances their decision-making ability. Advances in this area are what have kept the design fighters of the 1970s, such as the F-16 and F-18, at the forefront of aerial battle capability to date. The Rafale has exceptional AESA radar with very long ranges and multi-target shooting and tracking capabilities, an extremely capable IRST, and the SPECTRA personal defense suite is one of the most competent and well-integrated on the market today. Thus, you can see the battlefield earlier and faster or more stealthily, keep the aircraft safe while still aiming at the enemy, both the ground target and the adversary, and do so with maximum efficiency.

Weapon capacity and load

Gone are the days when you snuck out and flew over the target to drop your dumb bombs and hoped like hell to hit the target. Look at the church of San Pablo in Ambala. It is probably less than 500 meters from the track, but that is what was damaged in a night attack by the PAF in 1965 and not the track. When you get close to the target, whether on the ground or in the air, you run the risk of getting shot multiple times. Today’s smart weapons have sensors as advanced as the aircraft itself. They navigate to the target using GPS / INS, they can even have photographic images stored to identify their route and target, giving them an accuracy of less than one meter. They fold their wings to glide and increase range or they have engines that propel them to distances of 300 km and more. This is called the separation capacity. The greater your fighting ability, the more your survivability improves. This is true for air-to-ground and air-to-air weapons. If I can shoot the opponent before he can shoot me, I will be the winner. Therefore, the longer the range, the more lethal you will be, especially if the NEZ (No Escape Zone, the distance at which YOU WILL HAVE THE PERIOD OF FIRE) of your missile is greater. And the more weapons you can carry, the more lethal you’ll be, especially if it’s an air-to-air and air-to-ground mix, in which case you are not only offensive but can also threaten the enemy fighter.

The Rafale has 14 anchor points where it can carry a payload of more than 9 tons. This is exponentially higher than the 4-ton payload that most equivalent fighters today are capable of. And these can be a combination of the SCALP / STORM SHADOW CRUISE missile, which is an advanced air-to-ground missile with a range greater than 300 km, the shorter-range HAMMER Air-Ground smart weapon (70 Kms +) or a variety of weapons laser-guided, GPS-guided bombs. With the SCALP, one could shoot it from Srinagar and not only hit Islamabad (170 Kms away) but even further to Peshawar (300 Kms away) while being well within our own territory. In the arsenal Air-Air carries the METEOR radar-guided missile which has a range of more than 100 km and a NEZ of more than 70 km due to its unique design. It also carries the shorter range MICA (70 Kms +), which can be either a radar or infrared guided version. At present, there is no set of weapons of proven equivalent range or capability in the Pakistani or Chinese arsenal.

So if you were to measure the sum total of all these capabilities, what you get is a state-of-the-art aircraft, which can fly fast, fly further, hide its presence from the enemy reasonably well, stay safe and while doing this, you can Capture your targets sooner, fire your weapons at a longer range, and make sure the target, whether on the ground or in the air, is destroyed before you have a chance to retaliate or even realize you are under threat. It can be perfectly summed up as the true “First Sight, First Shot, First Kill” ability.

Let me give you an example from real life. On February 27, 2019, the PAF retaliated against the Balakot attack boldly with its F-16s in broad daylight. Although our Sukhois, MiG-29s and Mirages held them at bay, they were unable to threaten the F-16s effectively, as the Falcons were armed with the AIM 120C5 Air-Air missile, the equivalent range of which was not reached by the fighters of the IAF. you don’t own. Today, with the Rafale armed with the Meteor (far superior to the AIM 120C5) and Scalp, the PAF Falcons would not even dare to approach their own border, much less meddle. And that’s why it’s a game changer …

(The author has worked for the IAF for 25 years as a fighter pilot and test pilot. He retired in 2019 as chief test pilot for the IAF ASTE (Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment). He has flown 25 different types of aircraft, including all IAF fighters Project leader for indigenous AEW & C manufactured by DRDO commissioned at IAF in 2017. Can be reached at [email protected]; www.linkedin.com/in/badhrishathreya. Opinions expressed are personal.)