Rafale
Omnirole multirole fighter · First flight 1986 · In service 2001
The Dassault Rafale — literally "gust of wind," or "burst of fire" in a more military sense — is a French twin-engine, canard delta-wing multirole fighter. Dassault calls it an "omnirole" 4.5-generation aircraft: air supremacy, interdiction, reconnaissance, ground support, deep strike, anti-ship and nuclear deterrence, all from one airframe.
It is distinct among European fighters in that it is almost entirely built by one country, drawing on France's major defence houses — Dassault, Thales and Safran. Home-grown avionics like the RBE2 AESA radar, direct voice input and the OSF infra-red search-and-track were all developed for the programme.
Introduced in 2001, the Rafale flies for the French Air Force and from carriers with the French Navy, and has been chosen for export by Egypt, India, Qatar, Greece, Croatia, Indonesia and the UAE. It has seen combat over Afghanistan, Libya, Mali, Iraq and Syria.
