phaid="The Block 52s were brand new and not fully equipped -- apparently they didn't yet have their RWRs installed. Nonetheless, they did rather well against the Rafales."
Against Rafale F-1 according to your greek document... Rafale F-1 was a substandard for the French Navy : radar rbe-2 and spectra at F-1 standard, no link-16, etc... very immature plateform TOO like the RWR-less f-16 block 52 at time of the exercise (your bias is impressive to be honest).
The Rafale that France wants to export to Greece and to other countries is a Rafale @F-3 standard (at least) equipped with an AESA. A very different plane, the shell is the same but the inside is very different : calculators, softwares and systems from the latest batch.
Moreover, if some people think that French Air Force or French Navy are going to use their EW equipments at "full power" during friendly exercises, they are mistaken.
phaid="uprated engines required to support AESA"
wrong, the Rafale doesn't need uprated engines to operate an AESA. The Rafale demonstrated the rbe 2 aesa in switzerland in 2008 with its current m-88 engines.
earlm="4. Will struggle in A2A in the future unless it gets AESA and Meteor"
I think the same thing and i don't think anybody would dare say the contrary. This is why the rafale was designed from the outset to receive an active antenna and this is why European countries (including France) are working on the long range Meteor missile.
I also think that AESA antenna and Meteor missile are needed for export success, I don't think anybody in France or elsewhere will be surprise by this. Each time time the Rafale was offered for export, it was with an AESA antenna.
1 - no export sales -----------maybe soon
2 - no laser designator ----------- according to the schedule it should have been done in early 2009, so the damocles pod may be be integrated right now
3 - no AESA ----------- incoming, link
4 - overpriced 4th gen fighter --------- cheaper than F-22, F-35, Eurofighter, it will serve France perfectly (from military, political and economical point of views) and with its abilities, it could satisfy the requirements of a lot of countries.
3 - no AESA ----------- incoming,link
Still not here, though - and yet its raised as a dead cert every few posts. This is despite the fact that not only has France reduced its build rate (ugly if costs are to be amortised) but now it's looking for an export partner (and probably any partner) to moxy up for AESA dev and integration costs as part of a fleet buy. 4 - overpriced 4th gen fighter --------- cheaper than F-22, F-35, Eurofighter, it will serve France perfectly (from military, political and economical point of views) and with its abilities, it could satisfy the requirements of a lot of countries.
...Against Rafale F-1 according to your greek document... Rafale F-1 was a substandard for the French Navy : radar rbe-2 and spectra at F-1 standard, no link-16, etc... very immature plateform TOO like the RWR-less f-16 block 52 at time of the exercise (your bias is impressive to be honest).
Mais bien sur. Every time Rafale loses, it is because the French were holding back! Just like in Singapore, just like in Korea, just like against the Super Hornets in JTFX, just like the Rafale killed by a Jaguar in TLP, just like in every other exercise in which the Rafale shows that it is simply a competent but very pedestrian little 4th generation fighter.
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