Storm warning: the Dassault Rafale is poised to become Europe's premier fighter-bomber.(Cover Story)

Journal of Electronic Defense, June, 2005 by Fiszer, Michal

France's Rafale is the most capable aircraft of the three new-generation fighters developed in Europe over the last two decades. Although the Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, and Saab Gripen are all currently being developed as multirole aircraft, only in the case of the first were strike capabilities made a priority from the very beginning of the program. The remaining two were initially optimized for air-to-air missions, with attack capabilities added later. When current conflicts demand mainly air-to-ground capabilities, the Rafale (the name means "squall") better fits those requirements, being a true strike fighter by its very nature, and it is not any worse in air combat than its two European competitors. Various circumstances dictated that that Rafale would...