??? It literally makes radar see further. Any sensor has increased range if it knows where to look ahead of time, as relatively weak returns can then be combined for better processing. Doesn't matter whether it is radar, RWR or IRST.
You miss understand what give a radar maximum detection range.
Apart from unchangeable factor that affect radar detection range such as Aperture area, another two factor which will impact radar detection range are Dwell time and transmitting power
Dwell time is the time the radar spent at any particular beam position within its Field of regard, the longer time it spend there, the better the range. However , it only up to a point where the return cause range ambiguity
As you can see in the illustration below, the beam position are the individual square that make up the field of regard
Transmitting power is affected by Pulse width and pulse repetition frequency, generally speaking, longer pulse width and higher pulse repetition frequency mean the radar transmits more power, but of course the penalty is range resolution (not the same issue with range ambiguity). Of course, by pulse compression, you can get long range without sacrifice so much range resolution, but even pulse compression has limit since radar bandwidth is not unlimited
So radar will achieve maximum detection range when dwell time, pulse length and pulse repeation frequency are set at maximum. However, that will significantly affect scan time. The major advantage of cueing is that you can point your radar at target at maximum setting and not have to waste time for the scanning part.
It is important to note that cueing also help fill in missing part of information when necessary. For example: IRST/ESM can track the heading of target very well but they lack ability to rapidly calculate distance to targets and target's velocity. In which case, radar can quickly fill in the gap of missing information. But that doesn't mean the radar will look further than their maximum range in these case
These are AARGM-ER missiles which frankly, Rafale doesnt have anything remotely equal, you can see one being tested here
Rafale can easily carry six bombs on two hardpoints. It has 14 hardpoints in total compared to 10 for F-35, so it can easily carry 6 air-to-air missiles + 6 guided bombs + 3 external fuel tanks.
Also, F-35 can carry a maximum of 8500 kg, compared to 9500 kg for Rafale. Now, F-35 will have greater range in this configuration, but Rafale can use both external fuel tanks and buddy refuelling, which gives it a far greater flexibility.
Firstly, unless the ship has very weak air defense, like a small Tarantul, then bombs wouldn't be a wise choice to use against them. Even AASM put Rafale well within the lethal range of ship with dedicated air defense like Kirov class or Type055. So it is quite irrelevant how many AASM that Rafale can carry while an F-35 with AARGM-ER or JSM will be significantly more survivable and has much higher chance of penetrating air defense
Secondly, Rafale and F-35 pylons are not equal, to say that Rafale has 14 pylons and F-35 has 10 pylon, and conclude that Rafale is better in that regard is actually quite misleading. Because, 2 out of 14 pylons on Rafale only used for Targeting and navigating pod, they can't be used for munitions. and when it come to anti ship missile, Rafale only ever carry a single one in the centerline pylon
Thirdly, the maximum weapon load in weight is of little important compared to what individual station can handle. Anyway, F-35 can carry twin rack like BRU-69 at station 3/9 and 2/10. So it can effectively carry 8 bomb while still have space for 6 internal Air to air missiles (with the new side kick launcher) and 2 AIM-9X at station 1/11.
It can, it is only a question of integration. It already carries
low observable cruise missiles.
Integration is a big deal in reality because it cost money, consider that there are many more buyers for F-35, there are alot more people willing to pay for weapon integration on F-35. In fact, F-35 already got Screaming arrow and HACM waiting for it
Furthermore, station 3/9 of F-35 can carry very heavy weapon, thus make it more suitable to carry hypersonic missile which are indeed very heavy due to their booster
It can carry three + 2 drop tanks..
As far as I know, Rafale is not integrated with JSM like F-35, and Storm shadow is only usable against fixed target
Better gun, plus superior aerodynamic configuration which allows it to actually do close CAS as opposed to simply dropping ordnance from range.
Rafale is not an A-10
Rafale can carry 125 rounds for its gun, please enlighten me how making an unarmored fighter with only 125 bullet getting close to the like of Pantsir-S1 , 2K22 Tunguska or even the ancient ZSU-23-4 is a good idea?