The naval variant of the Rafale jet demonstrated its operational capabilities at the shore-based test facility at INS Hansa, the naval air station in Goa recently. This comes against the backdrop of the Navy’s plan to procure fighter jets that it will operate from Vikrant, which is likely to be commissioned in August.
In September 2016, India had signed an inter-governmental agreement with France for the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force at a cost of around 59,000 crore rupees.
By early January this year, 33 Rafale aircraft had already been delivered to the IAF by Dassault Aviation, the plane’s maker.
In 2019, the then IAF Vice Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria, had said that the Rafale would be a “game changer” for the air force.
Various defence experts have also gone on the record to say that the induction of the Rafale gives the IAF capabilities that its two primary adversaries, the air forces of Pakistan and China, cannot match at this date.
So, what is so special about the Rafale’s capabilities? The Rafale is a twin-jet fighter aircraft, and it has variants that can operate from both an air base on land and an aircraft carrier.
According to Dassault Aviation, the aircraft has proven its operational worth during combat in Afghanistan, Libya, Mali, Iraq and Syria.
Fitted with avionics, radars and weapon systems, the Rafale is ahead of the F-16s that Pakistan uses or even the China’s JF-20 -- a 5th generation stealth aircraft.
The Rafale is also equipped with a wide range of sensors, which Dassault describes as being smart and discrete. First and foremost, the aircraft has the one thing that is an absolute must for any 4.5 generation combat jet, an Active Electronically Scanned Array, or AESA, radar. With enhanced situational awareness due to earlier detection and tracking of multiple targets, an AESA radar is a massive step up from the previous generation of mechanical scanning radars.
Net-centric capability, data fusion software and a secure data link are the other important assets that the jet has. In fact, Rafale’s “multi-sensor data fusion” process is a key capability highlighted by Dassault.
With a range of 3,700 km, Rafale also comes with a host of advanced weapons. European missile maker MBDA’s Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missile, Scalp cruise missile and MICA weapons system will be the mainstay of the weapons package of the Rafale jets.
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