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Shiv AroorJul 17 2017 9 15 am
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For instance, while missions over Libya were no more than 2.5 hours, combat sorties over Iraq and Syria currently average 6.5 hours with three mid air tank-ups. Rafales currently have a 600 nautical miles unrefuelled range from the aircraft carrier. Crews maintaining the jets on the carrier told Livefist that the two squadrons at sea enjoy a 97% availability rate (as opposed to 70% rate on shore).
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Rafale pilots at Landivisiau cannot stop talking about the AREOS recce pod. One pilot spoke of how the imagery AREOS pods produce during even high speed low altitude runs have upped the premium on Rafale sorties as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. “Rafale pod imagery is almost a currency now in the air over Iraq and Syria.
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Capt. Cassan, who says he has flown F/A-18s for three years and deems it a ‘versatile multi-mission jet’, says that when it comes to long range sensors, the Rafale still manages to see ‘much better than what the Americans can see’. He’s referring to the Thales RBE 2 AESA radar on the Rafale.
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In 2016, with Russian jets from the Kuznetsov over western Syria, Rafale crews operating in the area were tasked with entering airspace to acquire something they didn’t have: the attack mode of a Russian Su-33 radar. Two Rafales used their SPECTRA integrated electronic warfare systems on a 90 minute mission that finally ended in success.
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“It was very hard to target in Mosul. We were operating in crowded airspace. It wasn’t clean at all,” he says. Adding to the cluttered airspace were veritable swarms of drones deployed both by Da’esh as well as Iraqi forces — quadcopters sometimes armed with grenades. “The game-changer will be low collateral damage bombs that currently in trials for use in Iraq and Syria. Another mission like Mosul will be difficult without those,” the pilot says.
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“It’s almost a pleasure to trap at night. All we’ve got to do is align the vector instead of the mirror. With a wider HUD, landing is no longer the anxiety it used to be,” says Capt. Cassan, the Landivisiau CO. With half of all Rafale M pilots qualified to night trap at sea, half of all current operations have shifted to after dark hours over Iraq and Syria.
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Pathfinder escribió:Qué fotazas, y qué fotogénico es el Rafale, si algo saben hacer los franceses son cazas bonitos, y no me cabe duda que el FCAS lo será.

Pathfinder escribió:Qué fotazas, y qué fotogénico es el Rafale, si algo saben hacer los franceses son cazas bonitos, y no me cabe duda que el FCAS lo será.