The Indian Air Force, known as "made in all countries", has once again ruthlessly abandoned Russia, what made India give up the more cost-effective and more maneuverable Su-30 fighter jets and did not hesitate to spend 8.8 billion US dollars to purchase 26 French Rafale fighters?
French Dassault Rafale fighter.
India and France reportedly signed during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ParisPurchase of 26 naval Rafale fightersagreement. Its purpose is mainly to catch up with the rise of our navy and air force. So why, is India no longer opting for the Russian Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jet, which has been in cooperation for a long time?
Hello everyone, I am exploring the depth of view, let's talk about why India abandoned the Su-30 fighter with better performance and greater maneuverability and chose the French Rafale fighter with low cost performance today, I hope you can give a thumbs up, let's continue to look down.As we all know, our country is the country that India wants to surpass and catch up with the most, and this is not only reflected in the field of civilian technology, but also in the field of military science and technologyThis time, India abandoned the fixed seller Russia and turned to France to choose the Rafale fighter more with this in mind.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Su-30 fighter has long been the main fighter of the Indian Air Force's armament. This multi-role fighter was developed jointly by the Russian Sukhoi Design Bureau and Hindustan Aeronautics *** for the Indian Air Force. In some ways, this aircraft is even better than the French Rafale fighter jets recently purchased by India.
Indian version of the Su-30 fighter.
For example, the Su-30 fighter has a maximum flight speed of Mach 2 and a maximum take-off weight of 388 tons. In comparison, the Rafale has a maximum flight speed of only 1Mach 8 and the maximum take-off weight is only 245 tons. In addition,The Su-30 fighter is superior to the French Rafale fighter in terms of combat radius and fire system。This disparity in capabilities seems to make less sense of why India is abandoning merit-based selection, raising questions about the Indian Air Force's decision to buy Rafale fighters.
In order to better understand the reasons behind this, let's first compare and understand the advantages of the French Rafale fighter over the Indian version of the Su-30 fighter.
Although on the whole, the Indian version of the Su-30 fighter is superior to the French Rafale fighter in terms of combat radius and firepower configuration, but the comprehensive evaluation of an excellent fighter also needs to consider the fighter's avionics system and other aspects. The French Rafale fighter is superior to the Indian version of the Su-30 in terms of scanning radar and avionics, and the French fighter usually carries the RBE2 active electronically scanned array AESA radar, while the Indian version of the Su-30 uses a passive electronically scanned array radar.
Rafale fighter.
In general, platforms using AESA systems have a relatively low probability of being detected due to their use of multiple frequencies, and also offer advantages such as higher reliability and smaller size and weight. The AESA system for Rafale is also capable of performing in highly disturbing environments.
In addition, the Rafale fighter has an advanced electronic warfare kit jointly developed by Thales and MBDA. Dassault Aviation claims that the electronic warfare suite, called Spectra, provides".Multispectral threat warning capability against enemy radars, missiles, and lasers”。The long-range detection, identification, and positioning capabilities of this electronic warfare suite provide Rafale fighters with a high degree of situational awareness. Compared to the Su-30, the Rafale fighter's altitude sensor fusion reduces the burden on the pilot.
According to reports, the Rafale fighter can perform super cruise at low sonic speeds. And the Indian version of the Su-30 fighter does not have the same capabilities. At the same time, the Rafale fighter is called defined as 45th generation fighter with semi-stealth capabilities. It has a relatively low radar cross-section, and the RCS of the current version of the Rafale fighter is about 1 square meter, while the RCS of the Indian Su-30 is 4 times that of the Rafale fighter, and the stealth effect is even worse.
French Rafale.
In addition to stealth, the French fighter has a higher payload capacity, with a maximum payload of 9500 kg. It also has 14 hardpoints for carrying**. On the other hand, the Su-30 has a maximum payload of only 8,130 kg and only 12 ** hardpoints.
The ** package of the Rafale fighter is also qualitatively better than any of the existing fighters of the Indian Air Force. Rafale fighters can carry Mika air-to-air missiles, known as the "French Sword of the Air", which are very useful in close combat and over-the-horizon capabilities, in addition to being able to carry Mika missiles, Rafale can also carry Meteor missiles and Scalp missiles. It is worth noting that the Rafale fighter can also be used for nuclear delivery missions.
Indian Su-30 fighter.
After analyzing the French Rafale fighter, let's take a look at the Indian version of the Su-30MKI fighter, the Indian version of the Su-30 is capable of carrying cloth in terms of ** loadoutRamos supersonic missileThis is something that the French Rafale fighter cannot match.
It must be noted thatArms deals are seldom based solely on technical considerations. The level of technology transfer, post-maintenance costs, and overall operating costs are important factors that need to be comprehensively considered in arms transactions。On the other hand, in the process of purchasing fighters or **, it is also necessary to take more into account the fighters equipped by itself and its allies, because having the same aircraft can achieve a high degree of coordination and operability, so as to improve the comprehensive combat capability.
Rising Rafale fighter.
The two fighters we analyze today, they both have their own advantages. And the Rafale fighter should also not be considered as a replacement for the Su-30 fighters, but as well as with these fighters, as well as other fighters currently in operation of the Indian Air ForceCoordinated operationsof the complementary class of aircraft. It also needs to be mentioned that exceptTechnologyOutside the aspect,environmentconditions、Pilot skillsTeamworkAvailable dataand so on. The reason why India chose the Rafale fighter may be more because it wants to take a different path with our country, and wants to use the technology of Western countries to rise India's air armed forces, the Indian Air Force, which is known as the Made in All Nations, may have summed up a lot of experience in the process of continuous trial and error, and may truly become a so-called "air combat power" in the future.
Okay, that's all for this issue, thank you very much, we'll see you next time!
Topic of this article: Rafale vs. J-10C fighter, who has stronger combat power