Défense : l'Etat va investir un milliard d'euros pour moderniser le Rafale
Jean-Yves Le Drian a officialisé vendredi à Mérignac (Gironde) le contrat passé par l'Etat à Dassault Aviation, d'une valeur estimée à un milliard d'euros, pour faire évoluer l'avion de combat Rafale. «C'est un signal très clair de notre volonté d'investir sur le Rafale et sur tout un secteur stratégique, celui de l'aéronautique de combat, pour le maintenir au meilleur niveau mondial», a déclaré le ministre de la Défense en annonçant ce programme visant à faire évoluer le Rafale au standard dit F3-R .
(...) Le nouveau standard permettra d'équiper le Rafale du futur missile air-air européen Meteor, d'une portée sans équivalent dans le monde. Le Meteor équipera également les chasseurs Eurofighter (co-production européenne) et le Suédois Gripen. Il ajoutera sous l'appareil une nacelle de désignation laser de nouvelle génération développée par Thales, et intégrera une version à guidage terminal laser de bombes guidées produites par Sagem (groupe Safran).
http://www.leparisien.fr/economie/defen ... 480961.php
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interface"...
Rafale Variants: Types and Tranches
Rafale F3Rs features software enhancements to make full use of the RBE2-AA radar, Meteor long range air-to-air missile integration, SBU-64 dual mode laser/GPS AASM smart bomb integration, improvements to Thales SPECTRA self-defence system, an Identification Friend or Foe interrogator/transponder with full Mode-5/ Mode-S-compatibility. Diagnostic improvements will make maintenance easier and more cost-effective, and
there are reports that F3R will improve an overall pilot interface that has been consistently rated below the Eurofighter’s. As of September 2013, the DGA started referring to these planes as the 4th tranche (4T), and January 2014 saw a full commitment to develop all of these upgrades for fielding by 2018.
Efforts to include MBDA’s Meteor long-range air-air missiles are underway already, but it won’t be ready until 2018. That will make Rafale the last European fighter to integrate the Meteor, about 3-4 years later than the JAS-39 Gripen. It will also be the only fighter with a 1-way Meteor datalink instead of a 2-way link.
The Rafale remains behind in 2 other areas.
Its new Damocles surveillance and targeting pod’s 320 x 240 infrared array is far behind other international offerings, even with an architecture that effectively gives 640 x 480 resolution. Current performance is adequate, but this gap will continue to widen until the improved PDL-NG surveillance and targeting pod’s debut in 2018 with an effective 1280 x 1040 array. That’s about the same as some rival offerings in 2014, so by 2018, the Rafale is likely to modernize from a gross competitive disadvantage in a critical technology to a noticeable competitive disadvantage.
The 2nd gap is even more consequential. While the Rafale has a wide Head Up Display, an installed Helmet Mounted Display that would allow the Rafale to take full advantage of its wide-borseight MICA missiles remains the type’s most important missing piece external link, even after F3R.
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/fra ... ime-05991/
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... mas as notícias não são muito boas! 
