French Armies ministry, Florence Parly, launches new F4 Standard of Rafale fighter jet development while she was visiting Dassault factory the 14th of January.
While first Rafale F3/F3R began to be delivered to French air force, Florence Parly, while she was visiting Dassault Aviation at Merignac to deliver new contract for F4 standard development of Rafale fighter jet. The contract is worth 2 billion euros. Final version should be ready for 2024 and some adjustment will be available from 2022.
As main architect, Dassault will be in charge to create innovative connectivity solution for the fighter jet to be more efficient during networking combat (new sattelite and intra patrols links, communication server, software defined ratio). Plus integration of new weapon such as Mica NG air-to-air missile from MBDA.
Lastly, with regard to availability, Dassault is working under a through-life support contract which will become more “top-down” under the authority of the aircraft manufacturer. F4 will include a new Prognosis and Diagnostic Aid System introducing predictive maintenance capabilities. Other maintenance optimization features are scheduled, particularly with solutions based on Big Data and artificial intelligence. Lastly, the Rafale will be equipped with a new engine.
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