The addition of a Ring Laser Gyro (RLG) will have little if any impact on range.  Not quite sure what you are asking with regards to teh the Rafale?  The addition of an RLG in place of a mechanical gyro for teh Nav system is not going to enhance its performace in any way.  Well...actually thats not true, a RLG can power up and initialise quicker than a mechanical type but thats about it.

Yeah, Herk the Jerk is fishing around trying to get somebody to educate him about an INS. I think I'd pass.

Herald

A laser-ring gyro also does not wear out quickly if you keep it ready to launch (no moving parts).  Conventional gyros have a very limited operating life before their performance starts to deteriorate.

There are other benfits to having a Ring Laser type with regards to minaturisation, ability to withstand g forces, responsiveness to changes in orientation and position amongst other things, however nothing that makes a ring laser type vastly superior to a mechanical type for the purposes of the heart of an aircrafts inertial nav system.

Also its not strictly true that Ring Laser type have no moving parts............some bits are forced to vibrate at quite a high frequency.  If anyone can tell me what and why I will be impressed!!!!!!!

I remember reading somewhere that a ring laser gyroscope is made to move to improve accuracy.

 

If I remember correctly the ring laser gyroscope does not perfectly work with slow movement and that they oscilate the gyroscope so that the movement is alway faster than this low speed.

 

"http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Ring_laser_gyroscope"

These devices have been around long enough for any nation with the scientific aptitude of India to produce them domestically.

 

---  CHAS

The two light beams are split from the laser in the LRG and are transmitted in opposite directions, The beam that is opposite the direction of the main gyro rotation has the shorter distance to travel and this time difference is what is measured to get the difference as a proportion ratio of the actual gyro rotation. Intewrferomwetry is how, The problenm is that if you don't jitter the split beams with a piezo electric oscillating motor the beams will propogate backscatter in the ring path that will at those low ritation rates lockphase the split lasers so that the difference between the travel tomes opf the split beams degrades to ZERO-thus canceling the Sagnac Effectl.

 

You get cancellation or laser lock.

 

The jitter motor decouples the two spliut beams by dephasing the splet laser through oscillation from input to phase merge,

 

Herald