Rafale to live until 2070

Hi Guys and Girls,

It appears that France will keep the Rafale rolling until 2070!

That will be alot of updated and rebuilds. I wonder how effective the Rafale will be in 2070. (I'll never know! I doubt I'll get to 90!)

Linkage:

Rafale 2070 (Janes)

Thoughts?

Kind regards

RAB

originally posted by: RAB

Thoughts?

time will tell?

I doubt very much any aircraft flying today will be viable post-2050.

a reply to: RAB

I don't know how anyone can make such a prediction. They have no idea what an enemy combatant may look like 50 years from now!

At the start of WWII (1945) they were still flying biplanes. Fifty years later, in 1995, they had stealth technology, supersonic jets, guided missiles, high performance radars, night vision capabilities, laser guided bombs, etc.

This would be like saying the Sopwith Camel would have been a viable aircraft in 1995.

My first reaction was... Why are the French and the Germans chasing FCAS by 2035-40? A primary aim of FCAS is to replace legacy fighters. Are the French that confident in FCAS?

a reply to: RAB

French would say that. They probably just trying to throw the Brita and Ruskies off the bait as they are the only Europaen nations that can build serious planes. All we need is Sukhoi to join up with Bae to come up with a dream plane then the Continentals gonna have issues with their jets

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: RAB

I don't know how anyone can make such a prediction. They have no idea what an enemy combatant may look like 50 years from now!

At the start of WWII (1945) they were still flying biplanes. Fifty years later, in 1995, they had stealth technology, supersonic jets, guided missiles, high performance radars, night vision capabilities, laser guided bombs, etc.

This would be like saying the Sopwith Camel would have been a viable aircraft in 1995.

The US and UK are doing it both the F-35 and F-16 have similar upgrade plans (the same core systems are being updated) to 2070. I was involved in the early days of F-35 design in the late 90s to 2002 the concept from the beginning was to develop a jet that integrated with all battle capabilities - the main focus these days is electronic warfare and updating comuter code to improve the aircraft and maintain cutting edge sensors - it's far cheaper than designing a new aircraft and can keep the plane as state of the art tech.

As far as I'm aware there's only one potentially game changing contender in development that could make this approach innefective (electro-magnetic flights/propulsion systems, in the very early days and would require completely new materials and new forms of energy generation to be functional in a jet).

As for this system the Rafale is a great plane but after the communication nightmares and constant delays in Eurofighter I don't think there's much chance of it functioning/synching with tFCAS potentially crippling central Europe's air defence system.

The B 52 was designed in 1948 and is still flying today, 70 years later.

a reply to: schuyler

SU24 likewise the bear's

One factor is that they do not have much in the pipeline and they need a carrier qualified air-frame, and they will buy the F-35B when pigs fly (hmmmmmmmmm)

a reply to: FredT

A FCAS requirement from France is carrier capability.

originally posted by: anzha
a reply to: FredT

A FCAS requirement from France is carrier capability.

The New Generation Fighter (NGF)? Yeah I did see that but I remain ever skeptical of the collective national will to develop a hideously expensive stealth program. It also is dependent on them building a future carrier.

None of this is a dig that they can't rather the nature of inter country rivalries and work share coupled with iffy budgets makes it pretty daunting

originally posted by: FredT
but I remain ever skeptical of the collective national will to develop a hideously expensive stealth program.

There have been some very successful pan-European developments - Tornado and Typhoon. Both of which included the UK and had no French involvement.

Personally, I think the French are the problem because they will expect their requirements will be pre-eminent as well as industrial dominance. So FCAS will happen, but in reality it will be primarily French. Germany is the cash-cow, Spain is the token partner. That's where my scepticism comes in.

#subjecttochange

It’s a ploy to improve export opportunities.