That's what the
Lockheed troll factory says, not understanding that the
F-22's first generation stealth was obsolete when the F-22 was introduced in 2005 since
Rafale introduced the 2nd generation stealth while still in IOC = before 2004 FOC status for Rafale-M (2006 for Rafale-C/B). During NATO drills against the Slovak S-300 (which has been given to Ukraine recently), the only NATO aircraft that was left unharmed was Rafale, even when overflying the battery. And, since all NATO aircraft have been tested, this implies that F-35, F-22, F-117 and B-2 impaled themselves on S-300 (would have made more sense had it been a Romanian S-300 'coz Vlad the Impaler)... So, if F-35, F-22, F-117 and B-2 got busted and Rafale couldn't be detected at all, guess which is the stealthiest? Russians+Serbs helped to modernize Gaddafi's air defences : IADS on par with a fully computerized S-300 network, S-200 with solid fuel and solid-state parts, some say the old seeker was replaced by 3 modern ones: one from R-77 active radar seeker head, one R-77P/RVV-PE Passive homing (home on radar or on jamming, no great for the EA-18G Growler) and one IR seeker, probably from R-73... Bingo, even with an old OTHR around, with the 30km range of the R-73's seeker and its LOAL capability, this old cow which was long seen as only good at shooting down airliners becomes a serious issue for 5th gen aircraft, not for Rafale which is the aircraft that entered Libyan airspace first in 2011, and w.o. any cruise missile preparation. Many say that the F-35I damaged on Oct.16th 2017, on
the same day Shoigu visited Israel and Syria launched S-200 to repel an Israeli raid, wasn't damaged by a collision with two stork, but by some of the 37,000 tungsten pellets from a V-880/5V28 missile launched by a
"Stork-200" battery. Strange synchronicity
Rafael is the Israeli maker of Iron-Dome. There is no aircraft with such a name.
You obviously don't know about the subject. Rafale means fireburst from a machinegun or windgust.
Rafale F4 spec sheath includes "REINFORCEMENT OF STEALTH"...
You can't reinforce something that doesn't exists.
S-400's radar can detect a F-22 or F-35 from 150km and a Rafale at F3 standard only from 35-40km, during NATO drills against S-300 batteries, the ONLY NATO aircraft left unharmed was Rafale, going as far as overflying the batteries at high altitude without ringing any alarm.
The Rafale stealth technology can be switched ON/OFF, that's why US Patriot SAM teams at Red Flag nicknamed it "the Klingon Vessel".
With the F4 upgrade, thanks to ONERA's 3rd gen stealth technology, Rafale can fully absorb any type of radar waves, including from UHF radars like OTHRs, while F-22 or F-35 are no more stealth in the lower S-band, and the lower the frequency, the lesser the stealth, e.g. our NOSTRADAMUS OTHR can track a B-2 in a bombing mission over Syria from France with a 5km accuracy (and at only 5km, it's not stealth for a missile AESA seeker), and B-2 is stealthier than F-22, NOSTRADAMUS won't track a Rafale F4.
The RBE-2/AESA has been upgraded and is now more powerful than the APG-77 and APG-81, morever, the Thales T/R modules are not just GaN : they introduced another element allowing each module to do the job two used on the Northrop-Grumman radars, hey, guess why Raytheon has created a joint-venture making radars with Thales: if Raytheon was able to do this stuff on its own, they would, same for GE with the CFM56 or the LEAP, and if Safran was able of GE's mass production, there'd be no CFM consortium!
Frankly, even a Super-Hornet upgraded with Rafale F3 systems would be better than F-35, in fact, I wouldn't be too surprised if the Advanced Super-Hornet demonstrator was fit with Rafale stuff : Boeing has very very good relations with Dassault : Dassault has been contracted to fully optimize Boeing's production, it's even why they could deliver the T-7 RedHawk that fast. IMHO, the F-18/ASH has not gone further due to the NIH syndrome in the Congress, c'mon, Everybody in the industry knows that F-35 is a fiasco, even USAF Chief of staff declared F-35 can't even replace the F-16. Gen Brown declared that USAF would need a "5 gen minus" aircraft, well, since there is something even better than "5 gen minus" and there's no other game in town, why not going 5.5th gen?
We'd definitively wouldn't object Boeing starting to mass produce Rafale for the USAF, USN and USMC, you know, there's a 100kN dry thrust version of the M88, and Safran can deliver with 115kN afterburner within 18 months... Just install a ski-jump then an angled deck over sponsons on your LHDs and the America and Wasp classes can start operating Rafale-M in STOBAR config and at MTOW...
Another big advantage : with F-22 or F-35 1st gen stealth, external payloads ruin stealth, although it seems that now F-22 is being seen with a stealth drop-tank with an AMRAAM inside. Be it 2nd gen stealth up to Rafale F3R, or 3rd gen starting with Rafale F4, external payloads are no issue, so...
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Considering up to 7 Meteor BVRAAM or MICA-NG per hardpoint would be no issue for Rafale (depending on the hardpoint ratings). Even if nothing like this has ever been shown since there was no true air-to-air warfare since the Beka'a valley great turkey shooting, but there would be no technical issues preventing arming Rafale-C/B with up to 39 Meteors and 9 MICA-NG at once while the Rafale-M would be limited to 2 MICA-NG
Moreover, CFM has already considered producing the M88, in fact, the successor for the LEAP will probably be the propfan version of the M88... Thus, nonetheless Boeing is geared to produce Dassault designs, GE can produce the engines at the CFM plant and Raytheon can produce the Thales stuff...
The 6th gen NGAD will replace F-22 but will be very expensive, the F-35 will never reach its specs sheath and it's a hangar queen with a disastrous operational capability and orbital costs of use. There's nothing F-35 can do that Rafale can't except V/STOL for F-35B, but modifying a straight deck as an angled deck was successful on the Essex-class and Rafale-M has been qualified for STOBAR use, and it's also validated for the CVNs for long...
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So, it's simply time to pull the plug unless you want to lose your military dominance, especially in the Pacific Ocean...
Therefore... As well as the Zumwalt-class ended being a fiasco and now US-Navy mass orders the Italo-French FREMM stealth frigates, it's time to do the same thing with F-35 that USAF did with the F-104 (stopped the purchases after about 500 units which were later re-sold if not given (and BTW, the F-104 won the NATO competition over Mirage-III thanks to briberies and DoS pressures. F-104 was a pure turd, Mirage-III is still the #1 MiG-eater today) and USMC/USN with the XFV-12 which was replaced by an English aircraft, the Harrier
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Comparing Rafale to F-22 is impossible, it's like comparing apples and oranges!!! F-22 is a real monster with 312kN of thrust...
But... F-22 would greatly profit from being upgraded using more advanced Rafale's technologies!
- Rafale's radar absorbent skin material doesn't needs any recoating...
Instead of needing 28 hours of recoating per flight hour, thanks to the new LM coating (the previous one needed 32 hours/fly hour, source : AviationWeek/LM-communiqué), F-22 would start to fly as much as an F-15 and no more $69k/hour
- F-22 is not stealth at all against radars with frequencies under 3 GHz... You barely don't have a single air defense radar sold today operating over 2.9GHz moreover, with the numerous passive radars, F-22's stealth is obsolete... Use Rafale's SPECTRA with the new 3rd gen stealth, problem solved!!!
- OSF-IT is not an IRST, it's a 2nd gen QWIP, and 3rd gen will be installed on Rafale F4.2. This tech is also used for DDM-NG (MAWS+EODAS), TALIOS and AREOS. OSF-IT specs are classified, but the 25y old OSF "1" specs have leaked : it could lock-on a subsonic F-22 from 90-155km and a Mach 1.8 one from 270-455km... Even without upgrades, do datafusion with a 1st gen EODAS and targetting pod, you'd get a multi-miror telescope effect...
Sorry, but when it comes to electro-optcs, USA are even far behind Russia which is #2, the F-35's IRST is far under the OLS-35 on 20+ years old Su-30... Russia already fields a 1st gen QWIP on the Su-57, AFAIK, both USA and PRC are still at test levels with nothing having been integrated, thus it may have changed now...
In other terms, if F-22 has to fight a Su-57, Su-30, Su-35, J-20, etc, once combined to the fact that AMRAAM's no escape zone (NEZ) is of less than 30km, F-22 may face a serious issue : Jammin an AMRAAM as well as dodging it is no issue, as India has proven it when PAF launched at least 4 AMRAAMs against a Su-30MKI in Feb 2019...
Even now F-22 receives an IRST pod under the outerwing weapon station, J-20 may be a big problem...
Therefore, F-22 would also need the OSF-IT, the Meteor LRAAM and even the MICA-NG which its 80km NEZ to secure its air dominance over the J-20 and Su-57...
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In an ideal world, I'd replace the F-22's two F119 by three Safran M88/115kN : F-119 is 120cm diameter for 516cm long and 1800kg... M88 is 363cm long for 69.6cm diameter and 897kg... Three in 115kN version would be only 210cm in width instead of 240cm for two F119, 2700kg instead of 3600kg, 300kN dry thrust instead of 232kN, 345kN afterburner instead of 312kN and it would free 5.78m³ for more internal fuel, moreover,the M88's exhaust is stealth, has very serious IR-signature reduction and can be made with 3D vectored thrust, then, thanks to M88, Rafale's hourly cost is the half of F-16 or Super-Hornet... Even if the more powerful version would cost more per engine, it would lower the F-22 hourly cost to no more than $24,000
But the great thing is that thanks to M88, Rafale can do 6 sorties per 24h in normal use and 11 sorties in intensive use while, thanks to coating, F-22 can barely fly 50 minutes a day...
During the Atlantic Trident 2017 press conference, the F-22 pilot declared that the Rafale was on par with his horse while an USAF general and former F-22 pilot who was offered a ride was absolutely delighted. French are also very impressed by F-22 which is an absolute beast, for sure, when they do joint missions, most of the time, as it's long range stuff, Rafale carries large subsonic drop tanks, then pilots tell to themselves "oh, the Yankees are late" then suddenly, see the 22s arriving at Mach1.8 in supercruise, each dropping its 2 JDAMs on time while each Rafale drops its 6 "Magic bombs" (that's how they call he AASM HAMMER at the SHAPE), but, at the same time, w.o. cost cutting, fit the Rafale with 2x100kN of dry thrust, even with the 2 1250L drop tanks and the CFTs Rafale would be able of a Mach2 supercruise with more AAMs than F-22 can carry: when Dassault says Mach1.8 with the two 75kN engines, it's with 3 supersonic drop-tanks and AAMs and it's still able of a Mach1.4 supercruise with 2x 50 kN, you also won't see a F-22 with SCALP-EG, or a Mach3 nuclear cruise missile, there is also no Apache ALCM capable of ruining 400m of a runway's foundations about 400-500km behind enemy lines.
Just dig this : during the Atlantic trident drills, F-22 and Rafale enter first, the F-35 and Typhoon follow. USAF says F-35 has to be protected by F-22, Typhoon or Rafale, UK MoD says F-35 needs to be protected by Typhoon and when you know how poorly Typhoon performed against Rafale as well as the highly upgraded Indian Su-30MKI,while USAF's Ar Combat Command head declared "If we don't keep F-22, F-35 will be irrelevant, F-35 is NOT an air superiority platform".
General Dynamics and Boeing have created a freaking monster with F-22, unfortunately, Lockheed-Martin took over, so F-22 has been deliberately made overexpensive with astronomical costs of use and they did the same with the F-35 which, at the start, was supposed to be a cost effective strike aircraft to complement a fleet of 750 F-22... With the idiot congressman that managed to ban the F-22's exports, then Obongo who ordered the destruction of the tooling.
USAF has packed money to use F-16 until 2048, is buying F-15EX while cutting on F-35 orders and maintenance and general Brown has already warned :
The Air Force Isn't Dominant Anymore ... Says Air Force Chief of Staff
With F-35 economics being a disaster, the GAO warned, a few years ago, that the full program will cost $1.3 trillion more than planned, and the planned cost was already soaring at $1.65 trillion...
The NGAD is said as costing even more than the F-22, well, the only way to keep USAF relevance, and the USN and USMC too,
Replacing every F-15, F-16, F-18, A-10, AV-8B and even F-35 and F-22 in service today with Rafale would be way way much cheaper : the lifelong cost of a F-35 over 50 years is close to $1bn, purchase included, the lifelong cost of a Rafale is not even the quarter, and, in terms of operational capability, it does the job of three F-16s... Considering the low costs of use compared to legacy 4th and 5th gen fighters, the 5.5th gen Rafale is likely, if generalised, to cut about 65% of the annual cost of use of the "shooters" fleets, thus allowing to buy and use the NGAD in numbers, moreover, the NGAD would profit from technologies that are not available in the USA now since these were dev'd by the French and, as Linus Torvalds declared :
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And, considering the numbers of autocrats and wanna be tyrants waiting for any US weakness on the corner, with 13 inches nails planted through their baseball bats...
Some DoD SPOX declared : "in the future, we'll need more and more weapons systems designs from our European allies"... Like it or not, but if you still didn't got that your MIC has became a bunch of scammers, especially LM, and I wouldn't be too surprised if the AIM-260 ends inferior to the Meteor because the more LM uses of words like outstanding, second to none, overwhelming, etc etc, the more it's subpar overexpensive shit...
When a journo asked Marcel Dassault :
"So you're making the Rafale for France?", M.D. answered :
"No, I make Rafale for the world!"
Now, if USA wants its air forces to be bounced by S-400, S-500, J-20, J-31, Su-57 and Su-75, go on with NIH syndrome and Murican exceptionalism : F-35 is the recipe for defeat. Once France reaches the full complement of 225 Rafales, it's enough to enforce air superiority in case of a PRC + Russia coalition attacking the E.U. as well as suppressing their air defences or doing deep penetration raids...
Just the fact that F-22 and F-35 need costly special hangars and that the standard S-400 [degraded]
export [AKA "monkey model", yup, this expression they use since the Soviet-era is absolutely racist] radar can engage them from 150km = AGM-88 HARM's range, but there are bigger issues ; passive radars won't be spotted so easily, even a small fishing boat or a buoy can be equipped, detect your F-35 from 100km and provide targetting to long range SAMs. Ukraine builds passive radars since the Soviet-era, that's why Russia has serious air-superiority issues there.
If you want to imply into French bashing, be ready to be lectured more harshly by daddy.
If the USA were n Europe, you wouldn't be allowed to enter the EU on human rights violations grounds (death penalty, Gitmo), and corruption grounds (corporate funding of electoral campaigns = legalized corruption), you know, when you need to threaten Norwegian PM with "degraded relations with the United States" if Norway doesn't buys the F-35 which they absolutely don't need, don't be surprised if you get US-bashing from allies... BTW, remember Dubya's French bashing campaign which lasted for years? Yesterday, I spotted my first Ford car into 6 months... Yup, French stopped buying Ford motorcars as retaliation (as well as Harley-Davidsons). The Ford factory in Germany went bankrupt and a French car-maker bought it for peanuts. We also bounced General Motors from the EU market (Opel/Vauxhall is ours) and guess who took over Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram trucks? The Peugeot/Citroên-Fiat consortium...
I think we should consider an aggressive takeover on Lockheed-Martin, any way they're a disgrace for the profession, if BAe wasn't the most crooked company in the industry, thanks to Brit law protecting them in case of briberies as long they don't pay baksheesh/kickbacks in the UK, LM would. Maybe should we help Bashar a shooting down a F-35... As Mayer Lansky used to say :
"Nothing personal, it's just business"
