The French Directorate General of Armaments announced the F3-R Standard qualification on the French Famous twin engine, canard Delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation: the Rafale.
As predicts, the new version of Rafale from Dassault will be launched, beginning of 2019 and new ones will be delivered before the end of 2019. Dassault already communicated that they will be able to deliver 4 aircraft in 2018. The 144 aircraft owned by the French Army will be gradually changed to the latest standards as this modification matchs every version B,C and M. This new version was included in the 3 export sales Dassault did to Egyptian, Qatari and Indian armies.
With this standard innovations will be equipped as :
The European Meteor long-range air-to-air missile produced by MBDA. This high-performance missile achieves maximum effectiveness thanks to the “active array” radar which equips all production Rafale aircraft delivered since mid-2013.
The Thales Talios new-generation laser designator pod. Primarily used for air-to-ground strikes, in daylight or darkness, this pod further enhances the high degree of precision that the Rafale has shown since its first engagements (in 2007 in the Afghan theatre).
The laser homing version of the Safran AASM Air-to-Ground Modular Weapon. This family of weapons, with GPS primary guidance and an additional booster, is unmatched. It enables the Rafale to destroy targets at ranges of several tens of kilometers with metric precision. The laser homing version is particularly adapted to moving targets.
Dassault Aviation is already working on the new Rafale version the will be launched in 2025.
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