This Word Means: Rafale-M

Why the Rafale?

The Rafale, designed and built by Dassault Aviation, is a French twin-engine, “omnirole” fighter aircraft most hailed for its versatility. According to Dassault’s website, the Rafale’s mission capabilities include:

* Air-defence & air-superiority;

* Reconnaissance;

* Nuclear deterrence;

* Air-to-ground precision strike;

* Close air support;

* Anti-ship attacks; and

* Buddy-buddy refuelling.

What makes the Rafale special is its ability to carry out a diverse range of missions in a single sortie, something that has prompted analysts to liken the aircraft to a Swiss Army Knife. And although it is not a 5th generation stealth aircraft, the Rafale incorporates multiple features to reduce its radar signature (making it a 4.5th generation fighter aircraft, as per most military analysts), and comes at a fraction of the cost of an American F-35.

How is Rafale-M different?

The Rafale-M is specifically designed for carrier-based operations. While it has significant “commonality” with the Rafales already in service with the Indian Air Force — something that was crucial for its selection by the Navy — like all carrier-based aircraft, the Rafale-M comes with some crucial modifications.

Unlike on land, where runways are many kilometres long, carriers offer only hundreds of metres for aircraft to take off and land. This necessitates some specific modifications.

FOR TAKEOFF: All fixed-wing aircraft achieve liftoff by reaching a certain speed. (This has to do with the physics of airflow around the wings, something that is outside the remit of this explainer.) On the confines of a carrier deck, aircraft require some help to take off.

Indian carriers use ski-jumps for this purpose. The ramp adjusts an aircraft’s angle of attack for a safe climb away from the front of the ship. But such a system restricts takeoff weights, meaning carrier-based aircraft, in general, are lighter than their land-based counterparts. In addition, they come with specific design features to the nose of the aircraft (again to allow a more nose-up angle of attack), and are more compact in size.

FOR LANDING: As such, the braking power of aircraft alone is insufficient for landings on a carrier’s short landing deck. This necessitates the use of tailhooks, attached to an aircraft’s undercarriage. While landing on a carrier, an aircraft essentially latches on to arresting wires on the flight deck which bring it to a halt almost immediately.

This process, however, puts immense strain on the airframe. All carrier-based aircraft, thus, come with reinforced airframes and strengthened undercarriages, capable of withstanding the stresses of repeated carrier landings. In absence of this, these aircraft might literally fall apart over time.

OTHER FEATURES: Carrier-based aircraft also are more resistant to corrosion from seawater (and sea breeze), and carry specific sensors and armaments to engage with enemy ships and submarines, and carry marine operations.

The Rafale-M has been operational with the French Navy, aboard its nuclear-powered Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, since 2004.