A full range of advanced weapons

French Air Force Rafale B in flight. © Dassault Aviation

The mission system of the Rafale has the potential to integrate a variety of current and future armaments.

The Rafale has been cleared to operate the following weapons:

  • The METEOR very long-range air-to-air missile,
  • The MICA air-to-air “Beyond Visual Range” (BVR) interception, combat and self-defence missiles, in their IR (heat-seeking) and EM (active radar homing) versions. The MICA can be used within visual range (WVR) and beyond visual range (BVR).
  • The HAMMER (standing for Highly Agile and Manoeuvrable Munition Extended Range) modular, rocket-boosted air-to-ground precision guided weapon series now available in 250 and 1000 kg variants. It is fitted with INS/GPS, INS/GPS/IIR (imaging infra-red) or INS/GPS/laser guidance kits at the front, and with a range augmentation kit at the rear.
  • The SCALP long-range stand-off missile,
  • The AM39 EXOCET anti-ship missile,
  • Laser-guided bombs with different warheads and seekers
  • Classic bombs non guided
  • The 2500 rounds/min NEXTER 30M791 30 mm internal cannon, available on both single and two-seaters
  • Specifics armaments selected by some clients.
In-flight refuelling of a Rafale from another Rafale fitted with a "buddy" refuelling pod.

The Rafale’s interoperability in the field of weapons is guaranteed by the Mil-Std-1760 compliance of the stores management system, which provides for easy integration of customer-selected weapons.

With its 10-tonne empty weight, the Rafale is fitted with 14 hard points (13 on the Rafale M). Five of them are capable of carrying heavy ordnance or drop tanks. Total external load capacity is more than nine tonnes (20,000 lbs.).

“Buddy-buddy” refuelling missions can be carried out in portions of the airspace out of reach of dedicated and vulnerable tanker aircraft.

With its outstanding load-carrying capability and its advanced mission system, the Rafale can carry out air-to-ground strikes as well as air-to-air attacks and interceptions during the same sortie.

It is capable of performing several actions at the same time, such as firing air-to-air missiles during a very low altitude penetration phase: a clear demonstration of the true “Omnirole” capability and outstanding survivability of the Rafale.

To Discover

Mission ready with low operating costs

"Combat proven"

The way ahead

Specifications and performance data

Rafale deployment history

Introduction

Omnirole by design

A fully optimized airframe

A wide range of smart and discrete sensors

The sheer power of multisensor data fusion