Kh-31 is worthless against modern radars.
Says who? The Kh-31 is a valuable piece of kit for SEAD and the PD variant with its wideband seeker and improved onboard guidance is good for even DEAD. So the Rafale has no ARM.
Rafale has 3 options, AASM at 50k feet for 55-60km drop, AASM at treetop for 15-20km drop with a 90o bank shot or Scalp EG up to 300km. Spectra gets the location, Reco NG or Helios 2 gets the coordinates.
As I said apart from the AASM, and spending SCALPs to suppress every popup threat, good way to go broke mate..
Bottomline: No dedicated ARM apart from a ~50km electrooptic seeker equipped AASM, and hence cannot suppress a popup radar target at range.
The OSF has had IR since its inception, that is its whole purpose. It also has channels for each MICA IR seeker and target pods. It is the most IR loaded aircraft available.
It currently has no IR channel but only the CCD and a LRF. Its been removed due to obscolescence concerns and not been replaced. The Mica IR inputs are fed to the MDPU, but its not a perfect solution by any means as the amount of cooled nitrogen carried for a missile is limited, not to mention missiles have limited airframe carriage life.
http://rafale.freeforums.org/osf-problems-t43.html
Tmor: July 2009 Current F3 have no OSF at all.
In fact, we have :
F2 with OSF (now being retrofitted in F3 -17 F2 remaining today) ;
F3-O (obsolescence) with no OSF (neither TV nor IR) ;
and by 2012, F3+ with OSF-IT (=OSF-IP) with only the TV channel.
After the OSF-IP (or IT), the next step will be the OSF-NG with the new technology for the IR channel. (source : Air & cosmos)
http://www.electronicaviation.com/aircraft/Dassault_Rafale/819
According to Defence Analysis (p.17, Vol 8.No.12 December 2005) Dassault have called the RBE2 radar 'fatally flawed' alleging that its range was "inadequate" and averring that the Rafale therefore relied on AWACS support to overcome this. The DGA also described Rafale's OSF ("Optronique Secteur Frontal") as "obsolescent" and production has been cut back to just 48 units, rather than the planned number, which was to have been sufficient to equip all F1 and F2 versions.
Bottomline, no IR channel for the Rafale yet, and no clear timeline mentioned. Let me know if you find a ref in french sources.
Meanwhile:
Optical radar station 36Sh-01 for aircraft Su-30MKI;
http://uomz.ru/eng/index.php?page=products&pid=100176
Gee, IR channel right there.
MKI doesn't have a SAR pod, Rafale has Reco NG which is the most advanced recon pod on the market.
Educate yourself mon frerre (did i spell that right?), MKI uses the ELTA 2060 SAR POD.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2441/3635340264_70322eec62.jpg
Bottomline, the Rafale has no all weather pod unlike the MKI.
Who cares, the PESA is not on offer.
AESA is stated to offer 40-50% more range than the PESA, if the PESA had severely limited range to begin with...
Given the Rafale does not have currently even the range on the F-16 Block 60 and had to be upgraded to meet UAE requirements for the same, whereas the Bars has range equivalent or superior to the Block 60, the MKI has the edge in radar detection as well. The Super 30 upgrade will extend that further.
Net, the Rafale seems to have an issue in a nose not sufficiently large for a long range radar, as noted by Bill Sweetman in July, DTI
Of course, it does it every day off the coast of Libya. MKI can't as India didn't buy refueling pods.
Ding! Wrong again.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2istSpJf6tk/TGL4bioGTOI/AAAAAAAAAhQ/3OFVpX6Iwcs/s1600/Cob.jpg
BTW, which pod does the Rafale use? I am asking about buddy refuelling, not IFR.
Of course, Rafale avionics are a generation ahead of outdated Russian junk.
LOL, sure, just because you say so, even though it does not even appear to have all the capabilities circa 2011 which the MKI has had for several years now.
The generation ahead French avionics/junk/whatever aka the RBE-2 AESA apparently has issues meeting a generation older American set, which is not even the latest American set in terms of bricks, and whose performance is anyways not greater than that of the N011M on the MKI. Just compare the aperture, gain & product.
Rafale News - Page 116
With the general Alain SILVY
Deputy Chief Plans within the Staff of the Air Force.
And about the UAE demand to have a more powerful RBE2 radar, could it answer to some expectations for the Air force?
The Air Force is interested in having a RBE2 with an active antenna. It is now established with the powerful AESA antenna which will equip our tranche 4 Rafale. What the Emirians are calling for is much more complex. They want, in addition to the AESA, to have new functionalities on their Rafale, such as GMTT / GMTI (detection and tracking of moving ground target), interlacing between air/air and air/ground modes, etc.. Even if this is not for us an urgent need, the operational 'plus' obtained could nonetheless eventually interest us. However, the key Emirian demand is about the range of the RBE2. And, with the same antenna diameter, the only way to achieve the 10% range increase (compared with the Basic AESA F3 "roadmap") that wish to obtain the Emirians, is a big boost to the power of the radar.
The Emirati experts participating in negotiations are well aware of the problem. But they are also used to have very high quality weapons systems. They want to avoid any regression with the Rafale, at least on the radar range, compared to the F-16 Block 60, the Rafale having also many other qualities. The Emirians don't have AWACS and therefore want - it is a fundamental requirement - that the Rafale can see very far.
Why is the French junk not meeting UAE requirements? Oh, the UAE I tell you...
Makes no sense, Rafale has anywhere from 2-6 IR channels depending on how many MICA IR are on it.
Yes, brilliant. So, load up the Rafale with an AF's stock of IR Micas and fly around with them using them as a stand in IRST, instead of a dedicated set. Meantime, use up their airframe hours. An even better solution than the brilliance of putting an IRST on the front of a fuel tank as on the F/A-18.