MICHAEL PHELAN / PARIS AND ISTRES
The next version of the Dassault Rafale fighter is to be delivered next year - and its versatility could be a stepping stone to extending the definition of multirole
Dassault Aviation is preparing to deliver the first F2-standard Rafale fighters next year. The new version will finally begin to capture some of the spirit of the original 'omnirole' fighter concept that was intended to replace almost the entire combat aircraft inventory of the French air force and navy.
Yves Robins, Dassault Aviation vice-president international relations, defence, defines omnirole as multirole pushed to the extreme. "It has the ability to simultaneously fulfil air dominance, ground attack and reconnaissance roles, with a minimum of difference between land-based and carrier-based versions," he says.
That full capability is some years away, however. The Rafales currently in service are F1 standard - air-to-air capable only - and the F2s being tested at Dassault's Istres, France, test facility will add air-to-ground capability. It will only be with the F3 standard, due to enter service in 2007, that the Rafale will combine reconnaissance, truly independent radar terrain following, and conventional/nuclear deep strike capabilities, and really begin to shoulder out the other types.
Born of French dissatisfaction with the direction European fighter development was taking post-Panavia Tornado, the Rafale was developed indigenously as a replacement for such diverse French air force and navy types as the air-defence Vought F-8 Crusader, ground-attack Sepecat Jaguar and Dassault Super Etendard, reconnaissance/ strike Dassault Mirage IV, multirole Mirage F1, and eventually all Mirage 2000 variants, including the air-to-air 2000C, strike 2000D and nuclear strike 2000N.
With its Crusaders most urgently in need of replacement, the navy was the first to receive the Rafale - the F1 standard single-seat Rafale M - from 2001. Ten of the type form the first operational Rafale squadron aboard the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, while two F1-standard, two-seat Rafale Bs and one single-seat Rafale C are with the air force's test and evaluation unit.
The French forces plan to operate 294 Rafales. The navy is to take 60, around 40 of which will be in the two-seat Rafale N configuration, while the air force requires 234, of which over half will be two-seat Rafale Bs. The navy had planned to take all 60 of its aircraft as single seaters, but experience in recent conflicts showed the benefits of two-crew operation.
"It's more a case of playing it safe than high pilot workload," according to Claude Martin, Dassault Aviation test pilot. "Two heads are always better than one in tough situations."
The Rafale's two-seat configuration is different from that of earlier Dassault fighters in that the two cockpits are identical but independent. "All functions can be performed from either cockpit, but the displays can be manipulated independently, so each crew member can perform different tasks simultaneously," Martin says.
With airframe deliveries not expected to exceed 15 each year, and the type destined to be France's prime combat platform until at least 2040, Dassault will have plenty of time to incorporate upgrades - and those planned so far will be fully retrofittable to all aircraft. The F2 standard is due for delivery to the navy and air force next year, with the air force achieving operational capability of its first squadron in early 2005.
Intensive testing
Six of the aircraft are under test at Istres, and Patrick Castagnos, Dassault Aviation vice-president flight test, says the next few months will involve intensive testing and qualification of the F2's software and weapon systems.
The variant introduces air-to-ground attack capabilities, and is armed with the MBDA Scalp EG long-range cruise missile, the AASM rocket-boosted precision-guided bomb, and the MBDA Mica infrared air-to-air missile. The F2 includes the Thales front sector optronics (FSO) forward- looking sensor system, which includes a 60û cone of TV coverage and 180û frontal coverage using IR. The FSO provides covert air and ground target acquisition and tracking, as well as providing the pilot with a visual image of the primary target. Additional IR coverage can be obtained using the seekers on the attached Mica missiles.
A three-dimensional digital terrain database enables automated terrain-following during low-altitude flight and will be upgraded to 3D terrain-mapping radar in the F3 standard Rafale. The F2's Link 16 datalink enables secure communication with other airborne and ground-based assets, providing information about the aircraft's status and receiving additional situational awareness information to add to that from its own sensors.
With so much information at its disposal, the aircraft requires a powerful processor to combine the inputs into a simple pilot display. Rafale's modular data processing unit (MPDU) consists of up to 18 line-replaceable modules, each of which has 50 times the processing power of the Mirage 2000-5's XRI computer. The MPDU integrates data from the FSO, datalink, Thales RBE2 electronically scanning radar and MBDA/Thales Spectra electronic warfare system, displaying each threat or ally as a single icon on the pilot's eye-level display.
The F3 standard Rafale will complete the planned French development of the aircraft, adding reconnaissance capability, 3D terrain-mapping radar for fully independent autonomous terrain following, and MBDA AM39 Exocet and second-generation nuclear-capable ASMP air-launched missile.
Further developments are being proposed, either for the French forces or for export customers, including more powerful Snecma M88 engines for improved performance, integration of the MBDA Meteor beyond-visual-range AAM, and expansion of the RBE2 radar's scanning cone from 60û to 70û, allowing turns of up to 5.5g in terrain-following mode.
Dassault says the Rafale was designed from the outset to be operated from carriers as well as from land, highlighting this as a key driver in keeping support costs down through volume. "Adapting a land-based aircraft for carrier operations is always problematic," says Martin. "The baseline Rafale is designed for carriers, and we can then take weight out for the land-based version's landing gear," he adds. The air force Rafales will also lack the M and N variants' aerial buddy-refuelling capability.
Lower support burden
Dassault is targeting a 20% lower support burden than for the Mirage 2000. Robins describes the Mirage 2000's structure as being "fatigue-free", and the philosophy has been carried through to the Rafale, but without the need for onboard strain gauges to monitor structural loads. "We use a single central load factor measurement and apply it to our digital models of the structure. Our first structural fatigue checks will be after 5,000h, as for the Mirage 2000 - but we expect to push that out to about 7,000h eventually," he says.
Last year's Indian Ocean deployment of the first Rafale M squadron on the Charles de Gaulle achieved over 60% aircraft availability despite the first deployment being so far from home. For further trimming of operational support requirements, the Rafale uses onboard oxygen and cryogenic generation systems and a central weapons arming switch, eliminating the need for ground safety pins and reducing turnaround time.
The Rafale's maintenance philosophy hinges on modular replaceable components - even the M88 turbofans are composed of 21 modules that are interchangeable without the need for full balancing and recalibration. Throughout its life, the aircraft should never leave its operational base for maintenance reasons, says Dassault.
The six Rafales at Istres include the first production aircraft, Rafale M01, which has been loaned back to Dassault by the navy. Around 1,500 test flights are being conducted in 2003. Istres is the last destination in a country-wide journey for these Rafales, with components for the aircraft coming together in Dassault facilities all over France.
The fuselage is manufactured in Argenteuil near Paris, the wings in Martignas near Bordeaux, the flight control system is developed at Argonay near the Swiss border, and final assembly is at Merignac near Bordeaux.
Development peak
Dassault's Castagnos says the coming months will see the peak of F2 development activity. "We're scheduling about 100 test flights from the Charles de Gaulle in January, using just two aircraft. Normally the aircraft would only do about 10-12 flights per month," Castagnos adds.
The AASM munition, intended for the F3 standard Rafale, will be attached for some of the carrier tests as more weapons are continually qualified. "The next significant test will be the first live firing of the Scalp, hopefully within the next few weeks," says Castagnos. Live weapons firing takes place over the Cazaux range in south-west France, including air-to-air tests against target drones.
Istres' test facilities include a ground-based system integration laboratory that can emulate another Rafale and communicate within the datalink environment. With the laboratory also functioning as a test bench for flight-rated equipment, Castagnos says it allows Dassault to halve the costs of some tests.
"We can simulate the entire information pool for the aircraft in the sky," Castagnos says. "The aircraft receives information from what it thinks is a wingman, and we can see the result of all the information on the pilot's displays."
Istres' function in the F2's development will be completed once the aircraft is qualified. Then the F2s will be delivered direct from Merignac, after a few flights by the local test department. "The F1s needed three flights before handover, but with the F2 it will be about six. There are more scenarios to test," says Castagnos.
The French government has so far signed firm contracts covering 61 Rafales - 13 of which were ordered in 1997 and 48 in 1999 - with a follow-on contract for a further 59 due before the end of this year. Procurement timetables for the full 294 aircraft have not been finalised, but Robins says this is not really a problem. "It is completely up to the government. A slower procurement will lead to more capabilities being available, and the eventual total of 294 is not in question," he says.
Any development of Rafale beyond F3 standard has not yet been agreed with the French forces, but Robins says export orders could lead to upgrades just as easily as future domestic requirements. Dassault is already Europe's largest exporter of combat aircraft, and the company hopes the Rafale will be as successful as the Mirage 2000 in maintaining the company's 15% share of the world market.
"We have some advantages over rival teams on exports," says Robins. "We can offer the aircraft exactly as configured for the French air force, with all the same capabilities, and we're in a strong position to offer large offset deals if necessary as we have a small industrial grouping under one government," he adds, referring to the three main French developers Dassault, Snecma and Thales.
Robins declines to say what the export order target might be, but adds that any sales would be a bonus, not a necessity: "The programme is fully funded by the French government - so although export sales would be very helpful, they are not needed."
The Rafale has been downselected along with the Boeing F-15T and Eurofighter Typhoon for Singapore's eight-aircraft future fighter requirement, which may lead to more acquisitions when finalised in 2005, and Robins says Dassault still considers Greece an open market. "We expect the Greek competition to be re-opened after next year's elections," he says. In 2000, Greece signalled its intention to buy 90 Typhoons, but the order has never been placed.
Earlier this year, France decided that any upgrades required for export sales would have to be funded by Dassault, which means that only sizable customers could expect significant changes to the baseline design. "For South Korea [the competition eventually won by the F-15K], we agreed to fund development of an active antenna radar as that order would have been large enough. An order of, say, 20 aircraft would justify small changes," says Robins.
Optimistic outlook
Although Rafale has yet to secure export orders, Robins is unconcerned. "We were selected as the best aircraft by the South Korean air force, despite not winning the final order, and we were evaluated ahead of the Typhoon for the Netherlands," he says - although he concedes the market will alter significantly once the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter becomes available in a decade's time.
Whatever the result of the orderbook battle over the next few years, the Rafale's future with the French air force and navy is assured. Dassault Aviation's design house has a history of successful fighter programmes behind it - and with 40 years' service ahead of the Rafale, it has probably managed to produce one of the finest of its generation again.
With those same designers turning their talents to Dassault's unmanned air vehicle activities, they must be wondering whether they will ever get to show the world their manned-fighter design skills ever again.
Source: Flight International
