In
October 2012, the RAFALE omnirole fighter reached two major milestones: the
first delivery of a production aircraft equipped with the first production RBE2
AESA radar, and the initial successful testing of the new-generation, very
long-range, METEOR air-to-air missile.
Pushing
forward on new air-to-air capabilities, the Rafale B301, operating from Cazaux
DGA Flight Test Center in southwestern France, successfully completed, on
October 4 then on October 10, two successful tests of the beyond visual-range
air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) Meteor.
On
December 22, 2010, the French defense procurement agency (DGA: Direction
Générale de l’Armement) ordered 200 Meteor missiles. A week after, the contract
for integration of the Meteor missile to the Rafale system was awarded to the
industry.
This
advanced, ramjet-powered, missile, made by MBDA, is intended for air defense
missions. It will intercept targets at very long range, and it will be a
perfect complement to the MICA missile, which is currently used at shorter
ranges for air-to-air interception, dogfight and self-defense.
On
October 2, 2012, the first production Rafale F3 (the single-seater C137),
equipped with the first production Thales RBE2 AESA 1 radar, was delivered to
the French DGA, paving the way for the introduction into operational service of
the first European combat aircraft fully exploiting the cutting edge AESA radar
technology.
Extended
range capabilities offered to the Rafale by the RBE2 AESA radar (among a number
of other key operational benefits) allow the full use of the latest generation
of long-range air-to-air missiles such as the Meteor.
The
Rafale is already an extremely effective new-generation, combat proven
(Afghanistan, Libya), omnirole tactical fighter, but development is continuing
apace to exploit more and more of the aircraft’s tremendous capabilities, and
to seamlessly add new ones. As a result, the Rafale looks set to become even
better in the near future.
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