Thanks to the agility of its beam and the speed of its calculations, it provides unrivalled perception of the tactical situation, with improved detection and tracking in a multi-target environment.
The RBE2-AESA is fully compatible in terms of detection range with the long range METEOR air-to-air missile. The AESA offers an unprecedented growth-potential for the future.
The FSO allows stealthy targets to be detected and tracked, placing the Rafale and its combat sphere at the centre of future engagements, while visually identifying targets at stand-off distances, as required by the rules of engagement.
Frontal Sector Optronics (FSO) is totally integrated into the aircraft and its weapons system, and is constantly being developed to deal with obsolescence and improve performance. It is impervious to radar jamming, and offers long-range detection, identification and passive tracking capability in the visible and infrared optronic spectrum.
ground-to-air threats, and fully integrated with the aircraft’s other systems, it provides a multi-spectral warning capability against enemy radars, missiles and lasers, and ensures long-range detection, identification and location of threats with an excellent level of credibility, enabling the pilot to react without delay with the most appropriate tactics combining jamming, infrared and/or electromagnetic decoy, and evasive manoeuvres.
An essential asset in the early development of a high-quality tactical situation, Spectra takes advantage of an in-house threat library, which users can define and update with great responsiveness and total autonomy, and benefits from the introduction of a New Generation Missile Detector offering enhanced performance against the latest threats.
The Rafale is equipped with a Link 16 or with a non-NATO customer-specific solution depending on the customers’ requirements. Its interoperability, as part of a multinational operation, has been demonstrated on countless occasions.
Thanks to its net-centric ability to share data, the Rafale is totally connected to the other battlespace assets. This capability hinges on its open architecture that allows the simultaneous use of multiple broadband datalinks. The Rafale can share tactical data in real time with other aircraft in the formation, and with airborne and surface command and control centres, tactical air controllers or other friendly assets.
The Rafale will soon be equipped with a trans-horizon connectivity capability via a satellite link.
The TALIOS targeting and laser designator pod brings full day and night surveillance, identification and laser designation capability to the Rafale, with metric precision. Interoperable with all laser-guided weapons, it can fire from a safe distance and perform reconnaissance, and will soon be able to carry out pre planned reconnaissance missions.
The French Air and Space Force and the French Navy have chosen the SCORPION® helmet-mounted display to facilitate and accelerate target acquisition and designation.
It projects right in front of the eyes of the pilot and of the weapon system operator a symbology that considerably ameliorates the perception of the situation, especially outside the limits of the cockpit.
This helmet allows the simultaneous use of the helmet-mounted display and of night vision goggles. Other types of helmet-mounted displays have been integrated into the Rafale to meet the specific requirements of a number of export customers.