the rafale will continue to evolve general parizo said at a conference convened by
the european intervention initiative suggesting that the f6 and f7 versions would be a workhorse
to sew aviation is set to bring the f5 standard of its existing aircraft
endowed with an impressive number of capabilities in the early 2030s the f5 standard will allow us
to further increase the capacity of the rafale's first entry with new sensors and weaponry but
also the capacity to communicate collaborate and be interoperable french magazine zone military
quoted frederick pariso deputy chief of the forces is saying french air and space said
it will also have a range of advanced features and can match the world's best four plus and
fifth generation aircraft with daso fighters able to face stiff competition from sweden's
saab gripen e fighter jets euro fighter typhoon and usf 35 5th generation aircraft
rafale is a twin engine fighter jet with a delta wing and canard design capable of air supremacy
interdiction air reconnaissance ground support deep attack anti-ship strike and nuclear
deterrence missions it is capable of carrying a variety of missiles including air-to-air asra
am and amram interoperable hammer and scalp cruise missiles among others the 4.5 generation
omniroll fighter was inducted into the french navy in 2004 and the french air force in 2006
some of its variants include the navy's single seat dual seat and single seat
known as the rafale c b and m respectively
a proven fighter jet relevant to both traditional and asymmetric threats
as demonstrated in countless operations they discussed the emerging needs of the armed
forces in a changing geopolitical context da so continues to improve existing models
previous variants included the f1 dedicated to the french navy's first aircraft the f2 with
air-to-ground and air-to-air capabilities the f3 and f3r have extended versatility
and are fully operational the latest f4 standard was approved by france's defense procurement
agency dga in 2017 and is expected to improve connectivity cyber protection and radar systems
today the fifth generation of warriors reigns supreme because of their enormous
design production and operating costs they tend to be developed by the countries with
the most significant militaries especially the united states russia and china each of which has
devoted significant resources to operating them the american f-22 raptor and the f-35 stealth
fighter are probably the two best fighters in the world although other modern aircraft including
russia's suhoi su-57 and china's chengdu j-20 could threaten them if they did of a conflict
in the midst of this europe which has countries that routinely fail to meet their contractually
required two percent defense budget as a nato member may not be the obvious place to expect
the emergence of the world's next major fighter jet but europe has a long and distinguished
history in aerospace manufacturing and several of its designs for future fighter aircraft
including base systems led tempest and daso aviation led future combat air system fcas
are already in the works the prospect of europe competing in the sixth generation race
received a huge boost that the two projects would be merged together reuters reported
the consequences of this announcement could be significant
the planes being developed in europe have a major advantage over similar programs in washington
they can to some extent emulate the success of earlier american
aircraft and take advantage of new technologies developed in recent years
the joint program will take place between the uk italy and sweden these countries are currently
involved in developing tempest and france germany and spain which are each working to develop
fcas the tempest is currently slated to enter service in 2040 replacing the
existing euro fighter typhoon fcas set to enter service in 2045 will also replace the typhoon
in addition to the french rafale jet in spain's aging f-18 hornet goretti noted that given the
similarities between the proposed aircraft it would not make sense to try to develop
the two independently of each other as this would involve significant duplication of work
but the success of the joint tempest fcas project is by no means certain one area of
objection that could undermine the project is the impact of britain's brexit from the european
union complicating its commercial relations with europe the second important point is the recent
auk u s security pact which severed france from a lucrative submarine contract with australia
the deal which was kept secret from france until its announcement could lead
to paris's rejection of franco-british cooperation on other defense contracts
airbus defense and space into so aviation are still in detailed talks for a contract
to develop a next generation fighter a key element in europe's planned future combat air system
said michael sholhorn chief executive of the airbus unit
several points still need to be addressed he said november 30 in a virtual briefing for the trade
press hosted by airbus defense in space there's a lot of detail that needs to be worked out
daso is the prime contractor for the planned european fighter and the plan is to fly a
technology demonstrator by 2027 this is a complex meeting of two successful companies for a program
that will be significant in the decades to come he said so we all agreed to do our due
diligence and invest the necessary time to actually come to the conclusions we need
airbus ds industo have been negotiating fcas so far this year seeking agreement on intellectual
property rights and division of labor on the new fighter airbus units in spain and germany
stand to win two-thirds of the workload leaving to sow the remaining third with the latter claiming
leadership in certain major work packages the airbus ds was eager to gain access to valuable
background information about the mirage and rafale as the da so fighter jet
would help airbus engineers understand the foreground technology of the new fighter
to sow has objected to the access seeing it as a surrender of core knowledge of how to design and
build a fighter the agreement is required to sign a contract to launch work for phases 1b and 2 on
demonstrators that will fly in 2027 with a budget reported to be worth around 3.5 billion euros
4 billion dollars funded by partner countries france germany and spain
this new fighter aircraft will enter service in 2040
successor to the euro fighter flown by the german air force
and the rafale flown by the french air force and navy the euro fighter will be a bridge to fcas
shoalhorn said and the planned upgrades will allow the current fighter jets to fly through to 2060.