In many ways, the program Rafale F5, and its Loyal Wingmen combat drone, are presented as a major change in the program Rafale, which can almost be described as a Super-Rafale, without exaggeration.
It could well be, however, that this will have consequences far beyond the future of the current flagship of French military aeronautics, and the champion of European exports for ten years now.
Indeed, France and the United Arab Emirates are reportedly in negotiations to allow Abu Dhabi to participate in this program, within the framework of the Club RafaleThis would represent, if necessary, a major development in the French cooperation strategy, in terms of cooperation on defence technologies, which has until now been limited to its European neighbours and allies.
In doing so, this emerging cooperation has the potential to significantly transform French industrial dynamics in terms of defense and to open a new chapter in its modern history, to preserve its skills and rank on the international scene, despite the budgetary difficulties that the country is facing today.
In this section:
The programme Rafale F5, an ideal support to consolidate the club Rafale
The announcement a few days ago of the Loyal Wingmen combat drone development launched, as part of the program Rafale F5, has not made everyone happy. Thus, we could see, in the international press, an unfeigned concern emerging, coming from the partners of the SCAF program, concerning this French initiative, which will equip the national air forces, like the French defense aeronautics industry, with an advanced collaborative combat capability, 10 years before the planned arrival of the SCAF.
Above all, the programme will enable France to develop new technologies that it will not be required to share with its partners, such as relayed by the Spanish site infodefensa.com.
However, Paris clearly has no intention of developing the Rafale F5, alone. Rather than turning to its traditional European partners, France has, it seems, opened channels of discussion on this subject, this time with those who have allowed the French aeronautics industry to prosper, and on the program Rafale, to be the undisputed success that it is today.
These countries were brought together in what the Ministry of the Armed Forces now calls the "Club Rafale ", a community of users intended to intervene directly in the evolution of the device, and its related systems, similar to what Krauss-Maffei Wegmann has set up, for four decades now, concerning the Leopard 2, and named Leoben.
In this context, the arrival of Rafale F5, and its Loyal Wingmen combat drone, marks, in many ways, a reboot of the aircraft and its combat system, going as far as its own doctrine of use, and represents, obviously, the ideal support to bring this club to life. Rafale, and thus unite the operators’ initiatives Rafale, present and future.
UAE in talks to join programme Rafale F5 and its Loyal Wingmen combat drone
It was the United Arab Emirates that first responded to the overtures made by Paris on this subject. Not only is the country, to date, the largest export customer for Dassault Aviation's fighter jet, with 80 aircraft ordered in 2021 to the F4 standard, signing in passing the largest French export contract in history, for €14 billion, but it had also been, concerning the Mirage 2000, previously, with 68 units, which makes it a pillar of French exports in this field.
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In any case, if all this comes to fruition, we will truly be able to say that we have not had such a good Minister of Defense for ages (because yes, obviously Dassault cannot do anything without the Ministry).
The Rafale the oldest ones cannot evolve to the F4 standard
If the F5 model will undergo a significant structural modification that could be described as Super-Rafale, can the F4s be retrofitted to F5 levels?
In the negative, the countries that own Rafale Do they have an advantage in participating financially in an evolution from which their devices will not be able to benefit?
In fact, Rafale from F1 to F3R, will be able to evolve up to F4.1. The native F4.2 will however be the only one able to evolve to F5. So far, the explanation given for this is based on the new fiber optic cabling of the flight controls and the aircraft data system.
This does not mean, however, that all Rafale built so far will remain stuck at F4.1. There will be a divergence, two separate branches of evolution, on one side the Rafale "historical", on the other the F5. The two families will share many elements, and many advances and developments on one can be applied. However, the F5 family will have evolutionary characteristics that will also be specific to it.
https://meta-defense.fr/2024/01/15/programme-rafale-divergence-f4/
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"Air Force Grounds F/A-18 Fleet Due to Technical Issues"
September 29.
The pilots will be able to go pedal boating on Lake Geneva! This will keep them in good shape.
Just to emphasize the Swiss decisions.
Pedal boats are used by the Swiss Navy to train their officers (that's not true!) but...
Simulators for F35 pilots, that's true.
Long live the F5 and its NeuRons!
Let us recognize, however, that this situation has nothing to do with the choice of the F-35, and that it would have also occurred if they had turned to the RafaleWhat I don't know, however, is whether or not French planes continue to police the air for Switzerland in this type of situation today.
They continue to assure it yes with the Italians too
https://www.defense.gouv.fr/air/actualites/pps-renouvellement-laccord-transfrontalier-franco-suisse
Good development. As usual! 😉But you didn't mention the mess triggered by this policy with, randomly, the Americans, the European cronies, sent back to the ropes with their F35, the Germans aligning themselves with the US positions. Something to knock Europe to the ground! For fun, I think the Germans must be thinking a lot at the moment. I'm thinking of the enormous actor Gert Froebe, leader of the German team in "These wonderful flying fools in their funny machines".
Kind regards.
Hello, I think for my part that it is the shepherd's answer to the shepherdess in the case of the pseudo tank of the future which will certainly never see the light of day. Let's take up our marbles and go play in another more loyal court.
bye p…
To be frank, what focuses my attention on this subject is Saudi Arabia. The partnership with the UAE lays the foundation for the participation threshold, which is 100 aircraft. However, for Riyadh, joining Rafale F5 + combat drone, based on an order of a hundred aircraft, would allow them to have a very significant participation in the program, and perhaps even a local construction, which would allow them to quickly and widely develop their own defense aeronautics industry. I did not mention it in the article because KAS is not a customer Rafale, but it is an assumption to keep in mind.
The risk, in the long term, is that the countries to which we provide transfers of sensitive technologies become autonomous and represent future competitors... we see this with China on other markets, at our expense. (nuclear power stations, TGV, etc.) Tomorrow India?
This is not out of the question. But in what situation would we be in a better position to control this risk? By being in control? Or by letting others do it? Because there is little doubt that many such discussions are underway around the world.
This is indeed the whole issue. Concerning the EPR, China is now building it without us…
They are not at all the same as ours
theirs are pretty rotten