PIT STOP

RAFALEINTERNAT IONAL

Maintaining operational combat readiness can be expensive. It’s why Rafale is designedto be fully, quickly serviceable by a reduced ground crew. Compare that to themaintenance requirements of other late-generation fighters. And then carefullycalculate the impact Rafale’s better design can have on your total life-cycle costsand dispatch reliability. Rafale. A generation ahead. Rafale. The OMNIROLE fighter.

D a s s a u l t A v i a t i o n • S n e c m a • T h a l e s

RAFALEINTERNAT IONAL

D A S S A U L T A V I A T I O N - S N E C M A - T H A L E S N°12

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Now equipped with its full complement of 15 Standard F2 Rafale omnirolefighters, Flottille 12F can carry out an extremely large range of combatmissions, from land or from the deck of an aircraft-carrier: air-defence, sweep,escort, close-air-support, battlefield air interdiction, anti-ship attacks withprecision weapons… On top of their internal 30M791 30 mm cannon, StandardF2 Rafales can be armed with radar and infrared-guided Mica EM/IR air-to-airmissiles, Scalp cruise missiles, GBU-12 laser-guided bombs and AASM(Air-to-Surface Modular Armament) low-cost, all-weather, fire-and-forgetweapons. In 2007, five French Navy Standard F2 Rafales were engaged incombat operations over Afghanistan with GBU-12s. They successfullysupported troops in contact and fired their bombs with deadly accuracy.

Summary

Editorial

In the 12th issue of Fox Free,

The Rafale Team is proud to announce

that, Rafale omnirole fighters have

participated in two major exercises in

the USA. French Navy and French Air

Forces Rafales successfully took part

in Joint Task Force EXercise and in Red

Flag, attracting a lot of favourable

comments from users, foreign partici-

pants and outsiders.

The “FOX THREE” Team

p.3/5 p.4/5

Omnirol Squadron Full scale deployment

p.8-11

Fully interoperable

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OMNIROLE SQUADRON

PEMA 2b - Crédit photos : HP. Grolleau • A. Paringaux– Dassault Aviation – Print : Aviaplans.This document is not contractual and cannot engage the responsability of the industrial partners in any matter. Dassault Aviation and the industrial partners reserve the right to modify any herein indicated characteristics without prior notice.

Towards Standard F3

From late 2008, the unit wills ta r t u s ing opera t iona l l yimproved Standard F3 Rafaleswhich wil l offer expandedcapabi l i t ies thanks to theintroduction of the ASMP-Anuclear missi le, of the PodReco NG stand-o f f recon -

n a i s s a n c e p o d , o f t h eDamocles laser-designationpod and of the acclaimedAM39 Exocet missile. WithStandard F3 Rafales, Flottille1 2 F w i l l b e c a p a b l e o fcarrying out the full spectrumo f ae ro -ma r i t ime f i gh t e rm i s s i o n s , f r om an t i - s h i pattacks in coastal and blue

waters to power projectiono v e r l a n d , a n d f r om a i rsuperiori ty/air-defence tonuclear deterrence. Undercurrent plans, a second navalsquadron, Flottille 11F, willstart converting from the SuperEtendard to the Standard F3Rafale in 2012.

Keeping skills sharp

With the Charles de Gaulle inref i t for a nuclear reactorrefuelling and complex over-haul, it was decided by theFrench Navy to deploy theRafales and the Hawkeyes tothe USA to maintain skills incarrier operations.Traditionally, the French andUS Navies have always closelycooperated, and French andUS decision makers were keento bolster this cooperation evenfurther. Cross deck operationshad been carried out before onnumerous occasions, but not ona large scale, and both navies

we re w i l l i ng to t e s t t he i rinteroperability and validatecommon operating procedures.“The purpose of the deploymentwas to demonstrate our abilityto integrate with US Forces,explained Captain PatrickZ immermann , t he F renchCarrier Air Group Commander.We had not been idle whilethe Charles de Gaulle was indry-dock, however, and wehave used that timeframe toregenerate our carrier air groupand to train new pilots. Inmid-2007, and again in May2008, Rafales and FrenchHawkeyes trapped onboardUSS Enterprise and USS Harry

Truman, further demonstratinginteroperability. In February2008, we were given the greenlight by US authorities for thedeployment onboard USSTheodore Roosevelt, and westarted planning the exercise.The Aéronavale contingentwas composed of six Rafales,two Hawkeyes and officers,NCOs and sailors from Flottilles4F and 12F, the Charles deGaulle’s carrier deck crew andthe French Carrier Air Groupmission planning cell.”

Across the Atlantic

On 26 June 2008, six Flottille12F Standard F2 Rafales lefttheir homebase in Landivisiauto cross the Atlantic via Lajes,in the Azores archipelago.The Rafales were accompaniedby two F r e n c h A i r F o r c eC-135FR tankers and all groundpersonnel, spares and groundsupport equipment were car-ried by an Armée de l’Air trans-port aircraft and a hired civilianairliner.During the first two weeks of thedeployment, the Rafales were

accommodated at Naval AirStat ion (NAS) Oceana, inVirginia. Numerous trainingmissions were flown from therewith, or against, locally-basedUS jets. For the whole dura-tion of the exercise, at Oceanaand onboard USS Roosevelt,V FA - 3 1 ‘ To m c a t t e r s ’ ,a F/A -18E Supe r Ho r ne tsquadron, was the hosting unitfor Flottille 12F. For the Frenchfighter pilots, training withtheir US counterparts was anexcellent opportunity to testnew tac t i c s and to ve r i f yinteroperability.

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As part of its continuation training programme, the French Navy sent six Rafaleomnirole fighters and two E-2C early warning aircraft to the USA to participatein Joint Task Force EXercise (JTFEX) 2008-4, a major training effort involvingmore than 30 warships and 15,000 military personnel from four countries.

FULL SCALE DEPLOYMENT

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FULLYINTEROPERABLEDuring their deployment in the USA, French Navy Rafales seamlessly integrated withUS and foreign forces involved in Joint Task Force EXercise (JTFEX) 2008-4. Theyparticipated in demanding combat training missions, simulating attacks of groundtargets with precision weapons, and performing mock air-to-air engagements at longand close ranges.

For the French contingent, the exercise culminated withthe deployment of five Rafales for five days onboard USSTheodore Roosevelt (CVN-71). Prior to embarking on thecarrier, Flottille 12F pilots performed four simulated fielddeck landings each (two in daytime and two at night) at NASOceana or at nearby Naval Auxiliary Landing Field Fentress.Experienced US Landing Signal Officers (LSOs) were asses-sing the performance and safety levels of the French Navyaviators before allowing them to trap onboard the carrier.On 19 July 2008, the first Rafale carrier landing wasrecorded onboard USS Roosevelt. The first two days onboardthe US vessel were dedicated to Carrier Qualificationsand every pilot had to log ten ‘traps’, six in daytime andfour at night, in order to become fully qualified again. Onthe very first day, four pilots gained their day and nightcarrier qualifications, with the other four the following day,an achievement made possible by both the superb handlingqualities of the Rafale in the circuit, and the size of the UScarrier which allowed simultaneous launch and recoveryof fighters.Once fully qualified, French pilots switched to complex,multinational combat training scenarios. They operatedas part of the Roosevelt’s Carrier Air Wing (CVW-8), andflew combined missions with US Navy F/A-18C Hornets,F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and EA-6B Prowlers. For mis-

sion planning, briefings and debriefings, they shared aready-room with VFA-31 aircrews.During the tactical training phase of JTFEX 2008-4, Frenchand US naval aviators took part in operations spanningthe US east coast, from Virginia to Florida. Most sortieswere flown in the W-12/W-122 training areas off the eastcoast, and over the BT-11 and Navy Dare County trainingranges, in North Carolina. Other strike missions wereflown as far as Florida, with tanker support from US Forces.Both low-level and medium/high-level profiles were flownby Flottil le 12F aircrews. “We took advantage of ourdeployment to the USA to train section and division leads,exp la ined Commander ‘Tom’ Vale t te , F lo t t i l l e 12FCommanding Officer. The whole spectrum of combatmissions was simulated, from self-escort strike to close airsupport, and from basic fighter manoeuvring to air-defence.For strike or close air support scenarios, we simulatedattacks with loads of six AASM stand-off, fire-and-forgetmodular air-to-surface armaments, or six GBU-12 laser-guided bombs, plus a full-up air-to-air load of Mica radarand infrared-guided missiles. On most missions, we had USNavy adversary units in Oceana or US Air Force fighterstrying to oppose our ingress. That was very realistic trainingin a different environment for us.”

Onboard USS Roosevelt

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Link 16

For the French Navy, one ofthe main goals of JTFEX wasto demonstrate that its Rafaleswere fully interoperable with USfighters. Aéronavale Rafaleshave already participated inc omba t ope r a t i o n s o v e rAfghanistan and they are morethan likely to deploy to theIndian Ocean again in the nextfew months, so every oppor-tunity to train with US assets

proves invaluable. For eachJTFEX training mission, theRafales ‘plugged’ into the USNavy Link 16 datalink networkp r io r to tak ing o f f . Onceairborne, they shared tacticaldata with US fighters and withFrench, US, and British AWACs,Hawkeyes and Sea Kings.As a resul t, the si tuationalawareness of all Rafale pilotswas massively ameliorated,and overall combat efficiencywas significantly increased:

Flottille 12F aircrews rose abovethe ‘fog of war’ and all hostilesand friendlies were clearlyidentified, allowing Frenchpilots to either dodge or engagethe threat, depending on thetactical situation. Thanks to theL16 datalink, tactical controlwas both easier and quicker,and the Rafales were able toprosecute their time-criticaltargets more effectively andmore rapidly.

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All-round compatibility

Interoperability extended tosecure communications networkas the Rafale is equipped withNATO-standard radios. In-flightrefuellings did not pose anyproblem either, and FrenchRafales took fuel from US AirForce KC-135 and KC-10tankers, Omega Boeing 707sandUSNavyHornets and SuperHornet fighters equipped with

buddy-buddy refuelling pods.The Charles de Gaulle is fittedwith catapults and arrestinggears which are very similar tothose of US carriers. The designof the catapult shuttle used toattach the French fighter’s launch-bar is slightly different from thatin service with US aircraft,however, which meant that USshuttles had to giveway to Frenchones whenever a Rafale wasdue to be ca tapu l ted, the

operation taking less than oneminute to complete. All Rafaleswere usually launched by thesame catapult in order not todisrupt the launch-cycle of USNaircraft. ‘Hot refuellings’ withthe Snecma M88-2 turbofansrunningwere carried out duringthe deployment too, furtherdemonstrating the Rafale’sinteroperability with US supportequipment.

Total success

In five days, Flottille 12F Rafaleslogged 153 carrier landings,including 57 at night. The lastRafale was catapulted fromthe Roosevelt on 23 July, andthe squadron continued theexercise from NAS Oceana.In early August, the six Rafalesflew across the Atlantic backto Landivisiau, again withtanker support from the French

Air Force. For Flottille 12F,JTFEX 2008-4 was an out -standing success and the unitdemonstrated, on a large scale,that it could routinely and safelyoperate from a US carrier, farfrom its traditional supportinfrastructure. French and USpilots are looking forward toother, intensive cross deckexercises in the near future.In all, the six aircraft logged480 flying hours in just over a

month with very good avail-ability and reliability rates.This exercise has proved, onceagain, that the Rafale is a fullymature fighter which has nodi f f i cu l t y b lend ing in to aUS-led coalition type forceand, with theCharles de Gaulledue to be fully operationalagain from early 2009, theFlottille will find itself backinto action soon.

FULLY IINTEROPERABLE