The F-35 has ONLY ONE RIVAL that WON'T GIVE UP... 

The Dassault Rafale Fighter Jet is probably the only fighter that is selling like the F-35. In this video, I examine why it is so and what is in store for the Rafale future. Enjoy! The previous complete coverage: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-euMhXnNiqCw.html #Rafale #Dassault #dassaultrafale Join this channel to support it: ru-vid.com/show-UCVDkfkGRzo0qcZ8AkB4TMuwjoin Support me on Patreon www.patreon.com/Millennium7 One off donation with PayPal www.paypal.com/paypalme/Millennium7star Join the Discord server discord.gg/6CuWEWuhsk Buy an Aircraft Model at Air Models! airmodels.net/?aff=173 ---------------------------- Ask me anything! Take part to the community Q&A clicking the link below! forms.office.com/r/LNPQtf3Tc0 -------------------- Visit the subreddit! www.reddit.com/r/Millennium7Lounge/ ---------------------

As an italian aeronautical engineer, I have always loved (but also envied) the aerospace industry of our cosuins beyond the Alps. Great studies in aerodynamics and propulsion, good electronic capabilities, sufficient funds for research = great planes and top researchers. Everything made and thought inside the Country. Well done, mes amis!

Marcel Dassault said : "A plane only flies well if it is beautiful." Mirage, then Rafale, just confirm that.

I am happy when my country (Indonesia) chose Rafale. Hope in the future Indomesia will add more Rafale or more France product.

Being A Brit now living in France it Galls me watching this video about the Rafale, especially as an Aerospace Engineer who has worked on EFA in the past. But your analysis is brilliant. Well done to the French for removing themselves from ITAR. The French have played their hand well in the export market.

Good tempered Indian here...good to learn that Rafale is highly rated . Though quite expensive, (don't know how much Rafale versions to other countries cost) India has had a good run with its Mirage 2000s and the French are reliable suppliers; these factors definitely worked in it's favor. Thanks Millennium for an as usual detailed report.

Fun fact, Rafale have replaced 7 different aircrafts in the French army, that's what we call being OMNIROLE.

Let us have a moment of silence to the Gripen.

Notice how the french like to stay in the middle ground at all times no mater what is going on in the world. The way they told germany to F Off with their "green energy" and built dozens of nuclear reactors instead seemed expensive at the time, but is now considered a genius long term move to have a fully self sustainable energy grid. Then the french arms industry consistently tries to build excellent products that avoid taking any sides or cross any legal boundaries so that they can guarantee exports and funding to maintain a self sustaining military industry, which in turn maintains the engineer's competencies for generations. When the syrian refugee crisis began france opposed softening the rules on gaining a refugee status and were actively pursuing their own goals in the middle east (and Libya when all that went down). France is the low key european super power. They have the expertise to develop and deploy modern high tech weapons systems as well as defend its own interests without taking any harm in doing so.

The French have to be given credit for what they achieved in an aircraft a tonne lighter than eurofighter with much less powerful engines - ie. strong air to ground, carrier compatibility, AESA radar & lower price. Looks more elegant/innovative, too - those cheek intakes and area ruling/blending are sweet.

A few errors and additions: - Egypt will have 54, not 66 Rafale. First contract 2015: 24 Rafale. Second one 2021: 30 more. Technically it's even 55, as they allegedly lost one aircraft in dire circumstances I won't discuss here, an aircraft that has been sneakily added to the next production lot, explaining why the total amount of exported (or almost in the case of Indonesia) Rafale is 285 and not 284. - The 36 Qatari Rafale have been fully delivered already, the latest of the 36 was transferred in april 2022. - Discussions about the Rafale in Serbia are most probably not serious right now. It has been a long time France has not sold the same major weaponry to two potential adversaries. Although serbs have Mistral shorads missiles... It looks like an attempt from Serbia to stirr up dissent between France and Croatia. Turks did the same towards the greeks very recently, openly talking about their desire to order "first generation Rafales". I highly doubt Macron would do something like this... but who knows? So buy these Rafale before someone else does! (wink wink) - the 36 indian Rafale are not entirely modified YET. While the 36 have been formally delivered very recently, only 35 are physically in India, with one aircraft, Rafale DH RB008, the first produced but the last delivered, still being tested in France, under the authority of the Indian Air Force, for the integration and future retrofit of the full list of 13 ISE (Indian Specific Enhancements). - no electronic warfare variant is needed right now, however while the Spectra bandwidth has not been enlarged (which will be the case with late F4 early F5 production lots) the ASTAC pod dedicated to ELINT/ISR is still in service under the Mirage 2000D in the french air force. So while every Rafale will technically have ELINT capabilities akin to the ASTAC pod in the future, and much more with radar-based jamming to go alongside it, it's not really the case right now. Dedicated pods could very well be developed if the need arises, alongside the enhancement of Spectra. - SCALP EG missile could not be acquired by Egypt not because it was not ITAR free. It was. However the USA placed a certain chip on the ITAR list to block this sale out of the blue to appease Israel. Egyptians were furious against the french, and it took a year to fix the problem as a replacement chip was developed and integrated in France, but the SCALP EG cruise missiles have since been delivered to Egypt, with pictures attesting their presence in the egyptian inventory. - about F4.1 and F4.2, you get it wrong. F4.1 will be the standard for retrofitted EXISTING Rafale aircrafts, which in the case of french aircrafts, have nowadays all (or almost all) been upgraded to the F3R standard (more on this later). F4.2 standard is the designation for all NEWLY PRODUCED F4 aircrafts. Again, these denominations make sense only for countries in which Rafale already operate. The UAE won't receive F4.1 or F4.2, only F4, because there won't be the need to differentiate between platforms. Their F4 will be akin to the F4.2 of course. Egypt however has received 24 F3 Rafale, that can be upgraded to F3R easily, and then to F4.1 standard. However the 30 additional aircrafts they will receive will be in F4.2 standard (newly produced F4). Therefore the distinction will make sense only for them, as well as France, Qatar, Greece, and Croatia, if these countries ever buy more Rafale or upgrade them in the future. To be specific, the only, heavily discussed among french military enthusiasts, difference between F4.1 and F4.2, would probably be the presence or the absence of side-looking arrays in the nose. However other solutions exists, like side looking tile panels incorporated in the future GaN based AESA RBE2 array for Rafale's radar, which may render the whole endeavour, and distinction, ludicrous. However there are zero viable information about this right now, it's a well kept secret, so don't take my informed amateur word for granted. - about the MADL terminal on Rafale, this is a misinterpretation. What is happening is the ESSOR (European Secure Software-defined Radio) datalink, which is a multiplatform european datalink successor to MIDS, that is already distributed to more "subscribers" than MADL, will be integrated on the Rafale along the link 16, meaning each Rafale will receive and act as a server node hosting multiple directional datalinks in the future. This led a USN official to recently demand "more connectivity between his F-35C and the Rafale M of the french navy" but that's only wishful thinking as of now. It is VERY hard to imagine LM opening MADL to a non-US aircraft. However, the F-35 will probably have access to ESSOR, as many of the participants to ESSOR are also F-35 clients (Germany, Italy, Finland, Poland, Spain, France, Sweden). This would solve the riddle. - The spectra suite F4 upgrade will probably (no certainly) revolve around enlarging its operating bandwidth. Few details have been released. There has been speculation that the RF detection frequencies it covers may have increased, possibly detecting RF threats in the Millimetre Wave (MMW) band There have been rumors about it operating from 0.3ghz to 300ghz. Now about indian ISE because people get these very wrong and don't understand what F3/F3R/F4/F4.1/F4.2 stand for: - These ISE include a whole lot of modifications, making it a standard close to the future F4. Mainly a low band jammer at the top front of the tail, side-looking arrays on the side of the nose behind small bays only present on indian Rafale right now, another downward/rearward T/R Spectra antenna just under the engines exhausts, and a new IR optic for the Front Sector Optronics. There is also a new APU with a cold start high altitude capability. - So other indian Rafale are still in F3 standard, or something akin to the F3R standard. "R" meaning "Roadmap", which is a french only standard incorporating a small unimportant physical reinforcement setting the airframe lifespan from 7500 hours to 9000 hours before refit. - That's why it makes no sense to call export Rafale F3R (yet), as F3R is the homogeneisation standard of a fleet of aircrafts that have been delivered in F1 (9 Rafale M of the navy which were then refitted in F3), F2, F2.1, F2.2, F3.1/.2/.3/.4 and F3O4T. F3R is therefore not a specifically set standard, since newly produced latest Rafale already include this modernization. - The F3R configuration is basically a consolidation of F3O4T (traitement des obsolescences, 4eme tranche) improvements and rationalizations (disappearance of the IR ball replaced with a near-IR TV captor), and concerns aircrafts delivered in previous standard, which does not concerns a single export customer since all export Rafale were delivered in F3 configuration, to a standard close to F3.4/F3O4T. - Among the tactically important modifications achieved over time, computing power. Quick story: the Rafale first started its life in the 90's and to keep up with Moore's law, has a fully optic fiber data bus connected to MDPUs centered around a plug&play upscalable Power PC architecture and CPU. The first one was roughly akin to a Pentium 1 133mhz, then went forward with something akin to a Pentium 2 333mhz, then to something akin to a Pentium 3 733 mhz CPU, then went dualcore with a 1.2 ghz cpu for the F3 standard. Then quad core with the F3.4 standard. This was made possible by the plug&play design of the whole Rafale system. Next standard (F3R as there is no F3.5 standard for obvious reasons) includes even more cores and faster clockspeed but it has been very difficult to find any information about this anymore, although it has been revealed Cuda cores may have been playing a role in these MDPUs for a long time. There are 4 bays for MDPUs in the Rafale, currently, there's still only 2 occupied by computers. That's all I can think about now. I wholeheartedly admit the french side does not communicate enough which makes people misunderstand many things about the Rafale. Keep up the good work.

I'm happy India made the right decision.Thanks for information

A little anecdote about the Rafale: the engineers had trouble designing the nose of the aircraft. So Marcel Dassault, the president and founder of Dassault Aviation, locked himself up in his office for three days and drew the nose by hand. The craziest thing is that the engineers hardly needed to correct Marcel Dassault's drawings, they were so precise and perfect!

very important to say : most of the countries that bought F35 didnt do it because it was better or cheaper, they bought it because US treatened to not sell them nuclear missile launch platform if they didnt buy F35 :) This fighter jet was sell out because countries had no choice. technically, F35 should be better but is full of bugs and the maintenance cost is astonishing.

Technical aspects aside, rapidly changing politics have had a lot to do with the Rafale's sudden success. You touch upon it in the video, but the Rafale comes with lot less strings attached than the F35 and a lot less political pressure than Russian aircrafts. France's image as an independent ally of the US, rather than a vassal, has historically always helped its weapon sales. The Trump era, with one of the two main american parties going back to isolationnism (to say it kindly) has also left a significant stain over the perception of US reliability to enforce the international rule of law. You can see the effect in the Rafale's client list. One very frequent common point for clients of the Rafale is that they're countries who have uneasy neighbour that they're worried the US might either favour over them (in the case of India and Pakistan, Greece and Croatia with Turkey, multiple arab countries with Israel) or refuse to confront directly (in the case of Indonesia and China).

Last thing, this beast is appreciate by his discreetion, not the rcs or radar’s one, but because of its low consommation of kérosène. With after-burner he drink less than a typhoon in dry trust, that means less tankers are needed in support for the same mission. Dassault had think at all. Awesome job he did.

France has launched the ITAR free certification which guarantees the absence of all American dialing the eurodrone will have this certification

All the Rafale have always been upgraded to the last standard (F1 then F2 then F3) and it's a big difference with the Eurofighter (T1s...). It will be the case also with the F4 however there is a little detail. The full F4 standard needs structural adjustments hence only newly produced Rafale will be compatible: it's the standard F4.2. For the previous ones there is a sub standard, the F4.1.

Glad to see a channel of such quality recognizing the Rafale for what it really is. The rampant french bashing makes people underestimate the work of Dassault. I wonder if Serbia will also get on the Rafale's hype train ?

10:20 Rafale does this by flying extremely close to the ground. Like ~30-50m. Pilots of the Armée de l'Air always train at that altitude for penetration. In fact almost all electrical lines in France are layered with lights and sensors for that single reason !

Don’t forget that the Rafale has been designed from the beginning as a "plug and play" system. That helps the easy evolution of the Rafale.

Hope IAF finally clears the 114 Rafale F4 deal. We need them most right now.

France can't be France, without it's greatness. Charles De Gaulle.

"Persistent bad temper of Indian and Pakistani viewers" 🤣 I am an Indian myself and can't help agreeing. Unfortunately my fellow Indians have the nature of imagining that "patriotism makes up for facts" and that is the biggest hurdle to the military and technological progress of my nation. Thanks for posting such an informative video.

glad to see the Rafale getting the respect it deserves. It is an excellent fighter, not because it's multirole, but because it's *omni*role. It does its job perfectly well and shows the French military is actually highly competent, I consider France to be Europe's major military and nuclear power, the only other European nation I hold to a similar standard would be the UK to a lesser extent. I say to a lesser extent because unlike France, the UK relies on external aids, what I mean is they don't build their F-35s. Many people love saying the Rafale is inferior to the F-35 because it's not a stealth fighter, but it's not intended to be, and the fact that this fighter can literally replace many other specialized aircraft thanks to its functions makes it be a major tactical advantage, as modularity is very important, and spare parts will be far easier to supply. Though this video has a couple inaccuracies, they're just nitpicks and none I picked out were on a technological level. I'd say it's very spot-on. From a very (perhaps way too) passionate French defender of the Rafale, great video

Yeah the French weapons like Meteor, Mica & Scalp are some of the big reasons 🔥

"Binkov did this already, sir" is the best opening line that could have been made for this video, im glad you did.

Thank you for your perfect presentation and your huge knowledge. Another reason for customers to choose the Rafale is his high survavibility all along his career through numerous campaigns (Afghanistan, Syria, Tchad, Libya, Mali, etc.) None was KIA. (a french aéronavale officer, 30 years of service)

Where else can anyone go on RU-vid to get this kind of comprehensive briefing? Nowhere. Your channel is unique. Thank you!

In a multipolar world, agile weapon systems and replaceable flexible parts will be key selling point for any weapons to other country.

The Rafale eat ten F35 every morning for breakfat ! the F35 has no chance against the Rafale, the F35 suffers from serious deficiencies which are still not resolved...it's a flying anvil! the F35 and the F22 raptor keep getting punished at every redflag exercise, the Rafale is by far the very best !

The Snecma M88 engine used in the Dassault Rafale is considered to be one of the most advanced fighter jet engines in the world, and it is highly regarded for its performance. Compared to other contemporary fighter jet engines, the M88 has several features that make it stand out. For example, the M88 has a thrust-to-weight ratio of 7:1, which means that it can produce more thrust relative to its weight than most other fighter jet engines. This gives the Rafale exceptional acceleration and climb performance, as well as the ability to carry a heavier payload while still maintaining high performance. In addition, the M88 has a digital control system that provides precise control over the engine's performance. This allows the engine to operate efficiently in a wide range of conditions, from low-altitude high-speed flight to high-altitude supersonic flight. Another key feature of the M88 is its low infrared signature, which makes it more difficult for heat-seeking missiles to detect and track the aircraft. This is achieved through the use of advanced materials and design features that reduce the engine's heat emissions. Overall, the Snecma M88 engine is considered to be one of the most advanced and capable fighter jet engines in the world, and it has played a key role in the success of the Dassault Rafale as a multirole fighter aircraft. Correction is the best fighter jet in the world, It is also ITAR free. The F 35 which the US air force has declared it as a failure recently. Read the link. www.extremetech.com/defense/320295-the-us-air-force-quietly-admits-the-f-35-is-a-failure

Two seat Rafale is a beautiful plane…

I did notice that the Eurofighter is not mention among the Rafale potential competitors. 😁

As usual, an excellent video and content. I think that Rafale is fantastic! I can't wait to see what the super rafale will bring to the table

Dassault stated they are fully ready developp Rafale successor alone if the SCAF was to fail. Has they have done when eurofighter typhoon project "failed"

Rafale has greatest future compared to the other European contemporaries....

I really enjoy watching your highly informative videos as much as I enjoy watching your subscriber numbers go up! People are figuring it out.

A commercial success despite the blockages of the geopolitical power of its US "ally" which once again proves the quality of French fighter planes and the Rafale.

It's a beautiful jet. The Grippen and Typhoon have a similar body style. For a 4.5 Jet, it's pretty hard to beat. Price wise is great value.

The main difference between Rafale and F35 is that the Rafale can be operated alone. Whereas the F35 is relying on heavy support for air superiority, protection, range and so on. Also Rafale is far more easier to operate and the cost of the flight hour is much lower

People seem to have actually forgotten that the Rafale was a split up from the Eurofighter project. The basic aerodynamical design choices are the same as can be seen. And it got finished much quicker and seems to have turned in to a far more actually practical asset.

ahhh , love rafale! it deserve success!

Love your videos! Glad you are well, keep it up :)

Besides the 36 Rafales flown by Indian Air Force mentioned here in the video, India is buying additional 26 Rafale Marines. Also the 114 Rafales are in the final stage of contract as part of the MRFA deal of India

The Czech's just picked the f35 over the Gripen...and SAAB is butthurt about it lol. The Gripen is great too tho, not taking anything away from it. The Rafale is one of my very favorite fighters..and I think another reason it's so popular is because other countries see how the French use it themselves...VERY aggressively! They come in hot against the best air defenses in the world, blow everything the hell up, and get out before they know what hit em! They have a very 'who needs stealth?!' attitude and I think it's awesome

Rafale sells well in "non-aligned" countries for one simple reason : secrecy and how you're never really the "owner" of the plane for the F-35 ! US will always keep "an eye" on what you do with the aircraft and they are allowed to analyse data gathered during your flights and data gathered through sensors Dassault dont do that.

Excellent very interesting, lots to think about and great to have an understanding of the lovely jet, Thank you !

Vos vidéos sont vraiment très intéressantes. Merci à vous.

Rafale is a mature weapon system. Can fulfill every single task its assigned with a decent reliability and performances Airframe is also very capable to evolve onto something like "Super Rafale" if SCAF comes with delays US brag about F-35 but it's a "gen" later and logically much more "technological" and refined for "stealth" and "sensor fusion" Can't wait to see what Dassault will do with the SCAF ! Gonna be epic !

Hello my friends, congrats for this vidéo, ur analyse is pretty good, respect for une awesome job. Just know concerning spectra, that’s a complet program notified by DGA to dassault électronique in 1980. Dassault got The lead because they were much more ahead concerning counter mesures than thales (ex thompson) since 2001, it’s no less of over 4000 update done on the system, that means approximatively an update each open day

I had the pleasure of seeing a Rafale more than 20 years ago at an airshow. It was quite a contrast to the then-aging design of F-15K which could only do big power loops at higher altitudes.

It's look like France wouldn't sell Rafale to Serbia because of distrust to Serbian government. Formally "neutral" position of Serbia but extremely very close ties with Russia and China guarantee that Rafale will be carefully analysed by military technical intelligence of both countries. That is reason why Turkey doesn't want to sell Bayraktar TB2 to Serbia too. France is NATO country and Serbia really hate NATO.

The relative lack of terms and conditions that come with French equipment like the Rafale is undoubtedly its biggest boon. It may not be 5th gen but for many the overall package combined with France's lack of attaching strings to their sales is much more attractive in this new era of uncertainty. Going to be interesting to see the Rafale evolve as the years roll by. Although sometimes I wonder wither or not taking the Rafale's guts and repackaging them into a KF-21/J-35 style 5th Gen airframe may not be a better alternative to SCAF should SCAF fall apart. A good and informative video.

I love the title. Marvelous way to say all in a single sentence!

Im a Rafale mechanic :)) And i just wanted to point out thats the F4.1 is already in the Air Force for testing at Mont de Marsan's CEAM,

Anyone else getting déjà vu about the SCAF program? It looks exactly like the Eurofighter program. It was supposed to be a joint European thing, but every country wanted a slightly different aircraft and that made the final product kind of bad for everyone, so France went and made the perfect plane for themselves (Rafale) while the others finished the program with the Typhoon, which is basically a Rafale but slightly worse at everything. Fight me on that

Rafale, Typhoon, Gripen, in the future Tempest. All this not counting F-35. Or Russian jets. French engineering has always been impressive. What’s more impressive is marketing French military equipment!

The lights are amazing, the image is very smooth, did you change something, it's really positive !

Rafale has in it's roster way more missions and operational hours than the F-35 in Mali Syria Iraq Afghanistan and finally in Libya where only took 4 of them to destroy all infrastructure of Al Wattiya airbase ( anti-aircraft Hawk missiles Turkish Jammer Coral ΤΒ2 Drones stationed radars of the base Sam missiles various armored vehicles). After that operation Greece ordered its first Rafales and a number of countries followed it's example.

You are a legend, thank you for making such good videos, greetings from Serbia 🇷🇸, we will probably order 14, but they are overbooked, they have a lot of orders, so only god knows when we will receive those 14 planes 😂

Great video as always

Great content! Using too much Autis reminds me of the movie 'Her' :P

Well deserved. French success story.

Great video. I envy the french's models and their aproach to their technology in projects, not wanting to lose ground. But what were the diferences between airbus and dassault?

Thanks for letting me know of the Joint European Fighter Program for a 6th generation plane. Didn't know of that.

Rafale is an Amazing Aircraft! 🇫🇷💙🦅

Can you please put out a video which analyzes Rafael's capabiities vis Chinese Air Defense systems and also how does it compare in terms of performance + capabilities against PLAAF and PLAAN inventory.

Coming from the perspective of a Canadian, it's been very disappointing to see the current administration choosing the F-35 over the Rafale. After flirting with Lockheed for a decade, having the original F-35 purchase plans axed, only to come back to the F-35 after this latest round of evaluation/competition. For a country like Canada, realistically the main uses of such aircraft would be for counter terrorism and peacekeeping operations against much inferior enemies. It is a complete waste of money to buy and maintain a fleet of F-35s. In contrast, a fleet of relatively "cheaper", more flexible, easier and cheaper to maintain 4/4.5 gen fighters would do just about all the F-35 can do minus the radar profile aspect. Anyway, great video as always, looking forward to the next topic!

I love it when John Goodman narrates military news

Great chanel for detail info on new technologie

Poor old RAF! It used to be third most powerful airforce in the world, but now it is one of the weakest, though you wouldn't think so to hear Boris Johnson talk! Our Army and Navy are in no better state, but few Brits know this. They think we have strong armed forces.

As usual, a great video. However, I question the comment that the Rafale's performances "smokes the F-35 in every area". I assume what is meant is the basic air frame performances. As this is a very complicated issue, I wonder what is actually meant by that. Granted, in very simplified terms, the Rafale has the advantage in lower wing loading and slightly higher thrust-to-weight in afterburner. I MIL power, however, they are about the same. But the F-35 has the advantage with a much larger angle of attack capability and can perform post-stall maneuvering, which the Rafale can not. Neither can any other currently operational fighter which does not employ thrust vectoring. It also has a drag and maneuvering advantage with internal weapons. F-35 can pull 9 Gs with 5700 pounds internally - which currently no other operational fighter can match - and , for instance, with comparably much less roll-rate and asymmetrical restrictions. Perhaps except for the J-20 and SU-57, if one would describe the latter as operational. And the F-35 has a significantly larger, relative internal fuel capacity (fuel fraction) which translates into more range and performance advantages in certain parts of the mission and flight profile. So while I agree that the Rafael most likely has several performance and maneuvering advantages over the F-35, it would depend on the configuration and mission. I think there is also no doubt that the F-35 has advantages in some areas.

That face you make at Otis. He isn't far from SCRAP, is he? LOL! 🤣

Rafale, Grippen, and SU-35S (emphasis on the S) are my 3 favorites, for non-US gen 4.5 fighter aircraft.

I saw on a forum that Italy has increased its contribution to tempest program. Obviously it’s a forum so could be nonsense but they had planned spending was €50m a year for next few years but it’s up at €1 billion a year! I will go and check source etc Edit. It looks like at Farnborough show Italy up its funding over 15 years from $2billion to 3.8 billion

Greece has already 6 rafale in service

Given the possibility of the US pulling out of Nato, dependence on US technology is a security risk

Rafale has a marginally lower in T/W ratio 0.01 than a Eurofighter, but it eat 2t less fuel per hour, and 4t in AB per hour, making it the most effective military engine of his range in the world, never forget its the birds staying longer in the sky that wins battles, range weight and weapons load are everything

When you buy American weapons it’s more of a lease than ownership

Magnifique avions 100% français vive la france 🇨🇵

The talk about Super Rafael has parallel with the talk about the proposed Mirage 4000 fighters. If one believes some comments in certain forums then it almost happened but was dropped becauae of the cost and limitations of the air frame.

Thanks for an interesting and informative video on one of my favourite planes! The fact that Rafale has carrier capability of course give it huge traction (to certain potential customers only, of course), sets it above some competitors. It is also true that Rafale is attractive to foreign Air Forces as described in the video. Basically only countries having aircraft carriers would be interested in this attribute, and it's irrelevant to all the rest. However, to label it the only rival to not give up may be going one little step too far. I would have enjoyed some discussion about the other two European contenders as well, viz, JAS 39 Gripen and of course Eurofighter Typhoon. Could we hope for another video along those lines, especially as you seem to elevate Rafale above them by some margin. I would like to know more about why you think this. Thanks again, and hi to Otis!

F35 is an amphibious fighter jet capable of underwater manoeuvres

France is the only one independant country in Europ :)

.. i have been to a number of airshows. All i can say about the Rafale: i have not seen another fighterjet (including F-35, Eurofighter, etc.) with such incredibly dynamic flight performance ..

Indian airforce inducted 36 RAFALE Indian Navy in process of acquiring 26 rafale -m Indian airforce has High probability of acquiring 114 RAFALE in MRFA .

Do you need a CAESAR to teach Otis a lesson about French kit ;)

The Rafale is likely the best multirole fighter at the moment with the best price/performance ratio. However, I don't think it's a competitor to the F-35. F-35 is quite a lot better as I see it, but it has a more specialised role and needs deep pockets F-35 also must be maintained in another country except the countries that got the facilities. Plus, there's a fat chance the export version of the F-35 is as good as the US version, and an even fatter chance countries have an F-22 alternative to dominate the skies and access to the weapons US has. In short, F-35 is great for countries like UK, Israel, Japan, but the rest are better off with Rafale. Now if you already have Rafale or F-15 or Eurofighter, F-35 is also good. I also consider F-15 better, but it has the same negatives as the F-35 + lacks stealth and is not 5th gen.

Your analysis are great, however I miss one very significant number which is man hours maintenance required per hour flown?

Nice sidekick 😆

Thanks for the video, Could you sometime, make a Gripen vs Rafale video? From exports and capabilities point of view? Thanks in advance.

Little update for Serbia. Serbia is interested for total 24 of multirol aircrafts for replacment for J-22 Eagle and MiG 29. Since replacment of J-22 is more urgent, first J-22 will be replaced by 12 new multirol aircraft (read new Rafal F4) and after that the plan is to buy additional 12 for replacmet MiG 29, so that will be 24 aircraft in total.

... loved the opener... :)

I love your videos, sir. 🤠🦅

If the Rafael sells any better the US would be like, "that's a national security threat!"

Indonesia switch to Rafale caused by SU35 blocked by US, and when Indonesia want F35 or F15++ US not approve it, And offer F16 or F18. Eurofighter are to old, no upgrade and expensive

As an American, i choose the Rafale over the flawed , super expensive F35. The history of the F35 is a sad one. From the very start, experts agreed it would be cheaper to cancel the existing program because its riddled with all sorts of problems and start from scratch. But the Bush administration insisted to continue the project no matter the cost because a lot of investors would lose their investments. So in short, the F35 was built with investors in mind, not the people who will use it to protect liberty.

There are also plans for Greece to buy additional 24 (at least) Rafale in the future. HAF will have in the 2030s at least 48 Rafale, 40 F-35 Block4, 83 F-16 Block72, 38 F-16 Block50++ Advance.

The F35 has one saving grace … if an F35 and F15 are both detected, then the F15 will be the higher priority target.