The development of the F3-R standard of the Rafale aircraft
In accordance with the roadmap given to Dassault Aviation, Thales and MBDA and to the teams of the Directorate General of Armaments (DGA), the F3-R standard of the Rafale should be qualified in 2018 and enter into service some months later.
Indeed, in a statement issued on 19 June, the DGA points out that the campaigns to integrate the two major equipment of the F3-R, namely the METEOR long-range air-to-air missile and the TALIOS designation pod, Timetable.
Thus, the last real shot of the METEOR missile integration campaign "was successfully carried out on the Biscarrosse site of DGA Missile Testing. "And the DGA to specify that" realized against an aerial target located at a great distance and immediately followed a simulated fire of MICA missile against another objective, this shot is representative of the new capacities made possible by the association of the METEOR and Of the Rafale RBE2 AESA radar [with active antenna, ed.]. "
In the case of the TALIOS pod, developed by Thales, it has recently been the subject of a penultimate operational aptitude validation campaign at the DGA Test Center in Istres. The latter provided for "several scenarios [...] to cover the wide spectrum of use of the sensor, including an exercise of supporting troops in contact with the enemy and the pursuit of moving targets". And this in different types of environment (rural, urban, maritime, mountain).
"These tests allowed us to appreciate the remarkable fidelity of the extraction of the coordinates of targets on the ground and the high quality of the images produced, which goes beyond the existing nacelles in terms of resolution and image finesse" The DGA.
The contract for the development of the F3-R standard of the Rafale was notified to Dassault Aviation on 30 December 2013. In addition to the integration of the METEOR missile and the TALIOS pod, it provides for a laser-guided version of Air Sol (AASM), adapted to mobile targets, as well as improvements to the navigation system, data links, active antenna RBE2 radar and the SPECTRA Electronic Warfare System. Rafale Shooting Guns).
However, the Rafale will not finish evolving thereafter. On 20 March, at the end of a ministerial investment committee, Jean-Yves Le Drian, then Minister of Defense, had indeed given the green light to the development of the F4 standard of the Rafale.
This evolution of Dassault Aviation's fighter aircraft must make it possible to "reinforce" its capacities "to evolve alone or in coalition", taking into account "expected evolutions of the missiles, of the engine" and by integrating "new capacities . "
