The Rafale – for all Reasons
In this cover story on the Rafale, Sayan Majumdar rationalises on the decision of the Indian Government to select the Dassault Rafale, the first tranche of these omnirole fighters just inducted by the IAF. The F3-R variant has been developed as a multirole strike fighter with priorities on nuclear strike and precision conventional strike, while retaining formidable air superiority attributes.
The first five French-origin Dassault Rafale F3- R omni- role fighters were formally inducted into the Indian Air Force on 10 September 2020 at Air Force Station Ambala. The ceremony was attended by India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his French counterpart Florence Parly, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria and Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar ( see lead news).
Some 14 years earlier, on 27 June 2006, Escadron de Chasse 1/ 7 Provence, at Saint-Dizier became the first French Air Force squadron to receive the Rafale, which 4.5 generation fighter, through constant upgradations, strives to reach “near fifth- generation” standard after progressive developments to robustly compete with emerging fifth-generation designs. Commentators have long felt that it is the French political reliability regarding Indo-French cooperation in the “nuclear arena”, including operationalisation of the
IAF’s manned airborne nuclear deterrent in the form of modified Mirage 2000H/ TH platforms (presently being upgraded to Mirage 2000I/ TI standards), and cooperation of the French administration so as not to impose sanctions upon India after Pokhran II nuclear tests, which may well have proved (amongst others) to be the decisive factor in selection of the Rafale in the erstwhile MMRCA competition.
It is speculated that a significant proportion of the IAF Rafale force will be assigned the role of manned airborne nuclear deterrence under India’s SFC ( Strategic Forces Command), officially raised on January 2003 under a ‘three-star commander’ by the National Security Cabinet Committee (NSCC) when formally announcing India’s long awaited Nuclear Weapons Command & Control Structure. The IAF’s Rafale squadrons are reportedly being configured for delivering a credible “retaliatory nuclear strike” on any rouge nuclear aggressor and are also capable of conducting pre- emptive conventional “counterforce” precision strikes on enemy nuclear arsenals or their Communication, Command & Control (C3) nodes, so as to disable them from launching any “first strike” on Indian forces or the Indian homeland.
The Dassault Rafale F3- R variant has been developed as a multi-role strike fighter from the outset, with priorities on nuclear strike and conventional attack yet at the same time retaining formidable air superiority attributes leading to its classification by its manufacturer Dassault as ‘omni-role’, capable of performing strike and air superiority tasks in single operation.
To execute successful nuclear strike and conventional attack missions, the Rafale with its manoeuvrability and high degree of cockpit automation has the advantage of terrain following and masking, including at night and in adverse weather conditions, flying a terrain/obstacle-avoidance profile at very low levels (down to 100 feet), guided by an Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS) which operates in either digital terrain following or radar terrain - following mode. With digital terrain following, the AFCS manoeuvres the Rafale based on a three dimensional map database which is pre-programmed into the AFCS software. The radar terrain following mode of the RBE-2 AESA radar scans the terrain ahead and securely guides the fighter over all obstructions before resuming nap-of-theearth operations.
In these missions the Rafale’s digital fly-by-wire (FBW) controls and canardtype fore-planes allow it to secure all the advantages of delta wing platform including high fuel storage, low drag, increased manoeuvrability with considerably more authority in pitch, fewer control surfaces and reduced Radar Cross-Section (RCS) while minimising most of the instabilities that arise when the aircraft carries significant external stores during low-altitude missions. The digital FBW controls empower the Rafale fleet with remarkable manoeuvrability at low altitudes as well as high resistance to g-bumps enabling them to fly very fast and very low, deliver ordnances on targets with a high degree of accuracy and still be capable of destroying opposing fighters with their formidable defensive weaponry and SPECTRA electronic warfare suite.
The Rafale is also capable of bringing back reliable battle damage assessment, thanks to the Thales-developed Reco NG/
AREOS reconnaissance pod, consisting of two bi-spectral (IR and visible) sensors for long-range strategic reconnaissance and a high-speed tactical IR line scanner for lowaltitude reconnaissance. This is optimally networked via a directive broadband datalink system (that offers a 360-degrees coverage) with terrestrial elements consisting of a mission-planning system and a station for receiving, processing, and disseminating intelligence data in real time.
The Reco Management System (RMS) includes functions for itinerary surveillance, multiple- point image gathering, ad- hoc stereoscopic data acquisition, real-time data link management and digital recording. Conducting a two- ship reconnaissance formation, each aircraft can focus on the same target from different angles or directions and/or from different altitudes. Alternatively, the route of the aircraft can be adjusted so that each fighter takes images of widely separated targets on each side. For the IAF’s, such standpoint enhancements of airborne strategic and tactical reconnaissance ‘ at short notice’ have emerged as vital after phase out of
its MiG- 25RB strategic reconnaissance platforms. Accurate navigation is facilitated primarily by two Sagem Sigma 95N (RL90) laser-gyro Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) with embedded Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers.
To complicate tasks of its adversary, the Rafale has significantly lower RCS, with stealth characteristics from its conceptual phase. The two ‘ kidney shaped’ sidemounted intakes lower the Rafale’s ‘frontal RCS’ by shielding moving parts of the Snecma M88-2 engine compressors while the vertical fin is made of electromagnetic transparent composites. Its high acceleration Snecma M88-2 engines with 72.9-kN of thrust each in turn enable the Rafale to fly in ‘super cruise’ mode performing supersonic flight without the use of afterburners during a part of the ingress and egress route. The FADEC (Full Authority Digital Engine Control) engine powerplant incorporates advanced technologies such as integrally bladed compressor disks (‘ blisks’), lowpollution combustor, single-crystal highpressure turbine blades, ceramic coatings, revolutionary powder metallurgy disks and composite materials. The compressor utilises a three stage low pressure fan and a six stage high pressure compressor. Possible up rated versions of the M88 are under testing/ conceptual stage will assuredly push the performance even further.
For nocturnal strike, the Litening G4 targeting pod, reportedly also offered to the IAF, is a superior system with an one mega pixel (1000×1000) Forward Looking InfraRed (FLIR) in addition to the mega pixel size Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) sensors and optics already available in the earlier Litening AT version, offering wider field of view and enhanced zoom to deliver more accurate target identification and location at longer ranges than the previous generation. Another new feature is the Laser Target Imaging Programme (LTIP), employing a ShortWave Infra-Red (SWIR) laser augmented imaging, which enhances the targeting system’s capability so as to capture images in situations where Medium-Wave Infra-Red (MWIR), FLIR and CCD are ineffective.
The Rafale’s avionics and electronics are integrated through four Mil STD-1553B data buses and two Mil STD-1760 data buses operating in ADA language to enable integration of a wide range of state-of-theart weaponry. The standard Conventional Attack Stand-Off Missile (CASOM) of the Rafale is MBDA’s turbojet-powered, 5.1 metre long, 1,300 kg weight and 250 km+ ranged SCALP/Storm Shadow CASOM pack that qualifies as a mini-cruise missile, capable of successful counterforce operations against enemy high value conventional and nuclear infrastructure by conventional strike yet staying away from anticipated heavy enemy ground-based defences.
Recent enhancement programmes of the SCALP EG include its capability to relay target information just before impact, utilisation of link-back data-link to relay back battle damage assessment and option for in-flight retargeting capability, utilising a two-way data-link. The Storm Shadow was successfully deployed on Tornado GR4 combat aircraft of the Royal Air Force’s No.617 ‘Dambusters’ Squadron during Operation Telic in 2003. Some 27 missiles were fired during the conflict, proving the missile’s exceptional capability to accurately engage targets at extended ranges whilst avoiding collateral damage, ensuring that the launch aircraft remained safely away from the target area.
However, the IAF’s preferred option for both its Rafale and Sukhoi Su-30MKI fleet appears to be the MBDA Taurus KEPD 350, an ambitious programme which commenced in 1998 by continuing the industrial capabilities in the field of precision stand-off guided missile systems of LFK- Lenkflugkörpersysteme GmbH (now MBDA Deutschland) near Munich, with those of Bofors in Karlskoga, Sweden. This led to the setting up of a joint venture company, Taurus Systems GmbH, based in Schrobenhausen, Germany, responsible for the development, production, marketing and logistic support of the Taurus stand-off weapon system.
The Taurus KEPD 350 (Kinetic Energy Penetration Destroyer) weapon system is a modular cruise missile type weapon initially developed for Luftwaffe Tornado IDS strike fighters, and also adapted for the Boeing F/A-18, Dassault Rafale, Saab Gripen and Eurofighter Typhoon. Taurus KEPD 350 has had an extremely short development time, which began in 1998 and completed final testing in March 2004, officially entering German Air Force service with 33 Strike Wing on 21 December 2005.
Five metres long, the 1,400 kg KEPD 350 has a range beyond 100 km and is equipped with the Mephisto tandem penetration warhead which can effectively engage stationary fortified targets such as underground bunkers and shelters whilst avoiding collateral damage. The Mephisto is based on a large tandem warhead concept comprising a precursor/shaped charge and a high explosive filled kinetic energy penetrator. As with the MBDA SCALP/Storm Shadow, during terminal phase in combination with passive high resolution Imaging Infra Red ( IIR) sensors with Autonomous Target Recognition ( ATR) system with highly sophisticated line extraction algorithm, the missile retains considerable autonomous operations capability over long ranges. As a future enhancement, the use of a data link is being examined for confirmation of a correctly performed mission and partial BDA. The IAF has reportedly also evaluated the Sagem- developed AASM Hammer ( Armement Air-Sol Modulaire) Precision Guided Munition (PGM) for its Rafale and Sukhoi Su-30MKI fleet.
The IAF’s manned airborne nuclear deterrent
French cooperation in creation of the IAF’s manned airborne nuclear deterrent is a very little known, closely guarded both by French and Indian governments to prevent international criticism. During the 1980s, as the IAF “discovered” the Mirage 2000H/ TH to be an excellent nuclear delivery platform, it began necessary modifications, an apparent feature being change of standard livery usually associated with air defence variants to ‘camouflage’ external body paint. Of course, far more radical changes were those internal, with generous assistance of the French government and aviation industry. It is rumoured that Dassault Electronique/ Thomson- CSF Antilope V terrain- following radar ( as on Adl’A Mirage 2000N nuclear strike platforms permitting automatic flight down to 61-metre and altitude-contrast updating of navigation system) had been installed on select IAF Mirage 2000H/THs along with reinforced radomes and twin INS. Optimum performance during nap- ofthe-earth penetration of enemy airspace and strike is thus facilitated, the aircraft still powered by its single yet most reliable Snecma M53-P2 turbofan engine.
Similar cooperation from Dassault has perhaps been assured in “hardwiring” of the Rafale. This would include airframe reinforcements particularly near the appropriately shorter and thickened central pylon and the inboard wing pylons, with the pylon data bus being of a more complex nature with additional connecting pins well in conjunction of differently programmed attack computers, with restricted access.
In French Air Force service, the ASMP- A Land- Attack Cruise Missile ( LACM) is tasked for airborne nuclear strike. Compactness of the ASMP-A can be judged by the fact that this formidable nuclear missile measures just over 5-metres in length with a weight of only about 850lb. The ASMP-A has a range of about 500 km at speeds of Mach 3, the extended range ensuring survivability of the launch platform from enemy air defences. The missile retains a speed of Mach 2 during low-level advanced and complex penetration mode with a high (yet undisclosed) degree of accuracy.
A similar indigenous or jointdeveloped LACM integrated with the Rafale’s centreline pylon would enable the IAF’s Rafales, with air-to-air refuelling (AAR) and conformal fuel tanks (CFT) to conduct precision strikes against an array of enemy counter-force and counter-value targets ranging from airfields to overland communications, command and control centres in face of intensive air defence installations over land or the seas without penetrating enemy›s terrestrial or warshipbased air defence systems.
Interestingly, the possible commonality of weaponry of the IAF’s Sukhoi Su30MKI and Dassault Rafale may well have served as a strong catalyst for selection of the French fighter. Looking ten years down the line, an emerging IAF multi-role fighter fleet of Sukhoi Su-30MKI, Dassault Rafale and upgraded Mirage 2000H/ THs comprising a score of squadrons and further supported by at least two squadrons of Jaguar DARIN IIIs would certainly represent the most potent air power in the Asian continent.
It is important to note that assimilation of the French-origin Rafale in IAF service will be relatively smooth as the IAF has closely followed French combat tactics and procedures developed along with formulation of syllabus and Standard Operational Procedures (SOP) after the induction of Mirage 2000s in 1985.