And can carry payload almost twice of that of Rafale, so its in a different league altogether.
That's actually not correct, it is true that it doesn't necessarily needs external fuel tanks, which means that all hardpoints can be used for weapons or pods, but that doesn't give it that much of an advantage.
A Flanker has 12 x hardpoints, while the Su 35 and 34 uses ECM pods on the wingtips, which leaves 10 (9 if a bigger weapon will be carried on the centerline station). Of them only 3 can carry heavy missiles or bombs like Kh 59, KAB 1500, which means in a deep strike mission for example with Kh 59 missiles, the load out would be like this:
2 x R73 (external wingstations)
2 x R77 (mid wingstations)
2 x R77 (air intake stations)
3 x Kh 59 (centerline and inner wingstations)
Rafale currently and in a similar deepstrike mission would carry:
2 x MICA IR (wingtips)
2 x MICA EM (fuselage stations)
3 x 2000l fuel tanks (centerline and inner wingstations)
2 x Scalp cruise missiles (mid wing stations)
With the external wingstations, which currently are not cleared, because French forces don't need them, Rafale could even carry 2 more MICAs, which means the only difference is a single cruise missile. Rafale can carry 3 x Scalps as well and especially the UAE seems to want this configurations, but with less fuel and range of course:
So depending on range and configuration, Rafale is even pretty equal to a Flanker in strike roles!
