Beryoza :

To be perfectly honest , only the F-35 (if it is as good as promised and if it flies) will match the Rafale as it is now .

Of course , what the Rafale F4+ will be by 2015 is a different story ;-)

 

Cheers .

""TV cameras are also useful, but FLIRs are more flexible.""

 

Of course ! In bad weather , using a long range IR device is better than to use a TV cam ;-)

But the weather is more often than not usually good at 16800m .

 

Cheers .

""when you say "match", are you refering to imaging/visual detection capabilities ?""

 

Yes but not only . Surely , the F-35 has a better AESA radar and a powerfull ECM suite as well as a very good LO management but the Rafale can cancel the F-35 's range edge with its long range passive detection . Rafale will detect (listen) the F-35 before or at the same time than the F-35 will detect the Dassault Fighter .

From there on , the fight begins and the gloves are off . With SPECTRA and Meteor + IR Mica , my bet is on the Rafale .

 

Cheers .

 

 

""FLIRs are also quite useful at night.......  ""

 

That 's correct , I understand ;-)

 

Cheers .

BW, as it has already pointed out, FLIRs/TV cams need to be slaved by another sensor in order to be useful. You could theoretically use SPECTRA for this but, until they're close enough for the LRF to be of any use, they cannot be used to generate a solution for missile launch.

 

Or you could try slaving the FLIR and receive range data via third party targeting, but this would be of very limited effectiveness against a stealthy target backed up by a capable ECM suite (ie F-35).

""BW, as it has already pointed out, FLIRs/TV cams need to be slaved by another sensor in order to be useful. You could theoretically use SPECTRA for this""

 

Indeed we do since the F2 .