SBD-3
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I am no way conceiving Rafale to be a less capable aircraft, but the point in case is that its not about the maturity of an airframe but the adaptability of the airframe which keeps an aircraft in service. We have all seen falcon to evolve from Block 10 to possible Block 70. Isn't that serves as enough proof of how adaptable this aircraft is? What else it can not take? it was the second only fighter after F-22 to have an active AESA. It had adopted to a variety of roles and capabilities evident from a number of variants,munitions and pods it can carry. Its all about adaptability of a technology to an airframe. Falcon has shown that it can go as far as you can push it. Even while reading planned upgrades for typhoon 2020 and most of them are either already present or very much implementable on Falcon. And lastly, an interesting reason why it has still a lot of potential going forward is that it is not only adaptable to operational but also strategic fit required by its operator. It has the potential to serve as both front liner with cutting edge upgrades as well as a backbone fighter being more economical to maintain than Rafale. Recently RAF has to cannibalize its Typhoons to maintain the others due to expensive spare parts. Going forward when 5th Gen export variants will be available in the market, will these platforms be able to adapt the role of secondary/backbone fighters due to their higher maintainance costs, a difficult question to answer keeping they are marketed for being frontline fighters.....The only reason this thread has been going on for so long is that people from both sides deal in absolute terms...some Indians are refusing to accept the f-16 is even capable of shooting down a Gnat, while some Pakistani members have convinced themselves that the Rafale is merely a European showpiece.
It doesnt take a genius to figure out the Rafale is a superior aircraft and as far as development is concerned, it is far earlier in its lifecycle and has a great amount of future development left in its airframe. At this point though, as the f-16 nears its end as a premier aircraft and Rafale enters such a phase, these two aircraft are comparable to a great extent. None of the Rafale advantages are so massive that the f-16 cannot hold its own against it.
But 5-10 years from now, maybe we wont be able to say the same, as the Rafale goes through numerous upgrades and our f-16s get left behind...but for now, it is close...not so much in the future.