Ukraine secured one of its most significant long-term defense commitments yet on Monday, when President Volodymyr Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron signed a 10-year security pact in Paris – opening the door for Kyiv to acquire the Dassault Rafale multirole fighter and its associated weapons packages.
Here are five things you might not have known about the French-produced Dassault Rafale multirole fighter, presented here as in-FAQs: infrequently asked questions.
What is the Dassault Rafale?
The Dassault Rafale is France’s top-of-the-line multirole warplane. It is a single-seat, twin-engine, highly maneuverable fighter platform, capable of air-superiority missions, self-escorting deep interdiction, close air support, nuclear strike delivery, and anti-ship operations. It would instantly elevate Ukraine’s air-combat capabilities to the highest Western standards.
Why would the Rafale be an important addition to the Ukrainian Air Force?
Ukraine plans to make the Rafale one of three 4th Gen + multirole fighter platforms that are part of Ukraine’s mid-term fighter fleet of 250 airframes, alongside the US-made F-16 and the Swedish Saab JAS 39 Gripen. The Rafale would eventually replace the older French Mirage 2000-5F provided to Kyiv.
The airframe of the Rafale is immediately recognized by its delta wing planform with forward canard control surfaces in lieu of the typical horizontal stabilizer aft of the typical fighter. The aircraft’s real strengths are its data fusion systems, which include a suite of integrated modular avionics (IMA) and a modular data processing unit, coupled with the Thales RBE2 AA active electronically scanned array (AESA) multi-mode radar and its SPECTRA integrated defensive systems, which enables the aircraft to support suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) missions. For example, F-16s shooting AGM-88 HARM weapons at Russian S-300 (NATO: SA-20) and S-400 (NATO: SA-21) systems.
What are the limitations of the Rafale?
The Rafale is a fourth generation platform, so it was not designed from the beginning with stealth capabilities inherently factored in, a situation it shares with all other aircraft in the Russo-Ukrainian battlespace. This is because when this generation of fighters, bombers and other combat aircraft were designed the computing power was not available to design a highly maneuverable and aerodynamically clean platform. In that generation, only the F-117 was a stealth aircraft featuring a highly faceted airframe completely covered in black radar absorbent material (RAM).
The only operational 5th generation fighters, the F-22A and the F-35A/B/C, and bomber, the B-2, were designed in the late 1980s through to the early 2000s. While these airplanes can operate with near impunity around the latest surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), the F-16, Gripen, and Rafale, as well as the local MiG-29 and Su-27, must still rely on other methods (like having SEAD platforms supporting a strike package) to avoid the threat posed by the most advanced systems that Russia employs.
How does the Rafale compare to Russian fighters?
The Rafale is a top-of-the-line 4th generation fighter equipped with near 5th generation avionics, especially its AESA radar and the electronic warfare systems French aviation has always excelled at producing. These matter more than maximum speeds and other information thrown around by aviation “experts” in these articles. How fast is your Bugatti Chiron compared to a Formula 1 car? Which is going to win an actual road race?
The weapons of the West are a lot more capable than those of Russia. Maximum ranges printed by Janes don’t take into account the many factors in a dynamic air combat scenario. These include atmospheric conditions, parameters at launch of the shooter, and post-shot maneuvers by the shooter as well as the target. A great deal depends on the electromagnetic spectrum and how that is manipulated, and this includes AI incorporation into systems equipped with modular (i.e., changeable), flightline reprogrammable black boxes.
The Rafale, standing with two other great warplanes, will win the war against Russian old-school “fighter jets.” And to fly a combat mission an aircraft needs to have jet fuel that is distilled out of crude oil at a refinery. Pit crew and refuel stops also affect who makes it to the checkered flag.
What is the big takeaway about the Rafale?
The Rafale program represents an upgrade to Ukraine’s military aviation fleet that will take years to complete. Remember the days, not so long ago, when Ukraine clamored for F-16s? Ukraine wisely decided to go with one new platform in joining the modern Western air forces. These are not new cars you drive off the lot and use in your commute to work tomorrow morning. You need to train pilots, ground maintenance troops, specialized weapons technicians, intelligence support specialists, and build infrastructure to optimize their bed-down and incorporation into air operations. The first flights in theater should not be expected until Spring/Summer 2027 – at the earliest, and in limited numbers.
The Ukrainian Air Force may soon (in airplane time) be on track to get F-35s, depending on who wins the US election in November 2028. Regardless of what happens with its allies, in the long term, Kyiv will need to acquire the latest in military aviation technology to gain and maintain air superiority – or even air supremacy – if it is to have a hope of ensuring its democratic independence and territorial sovereignty.