Alan Minyard wrote in
:
On Mon, 03 Nov 2003 23:27:47 GMT, "Bjørnar Bolsøy"
wrote:


Not when they are clearly inferior. The F-15, F-16, F-14. F-35
and F-22 are all clearly superior to anything ever produced in
France.

I'd agree on the two latter, but on the paper I'd say the
Rafael easily matches those three for it's intended roles. And
it does that years ahead of both the F22 and F35.

Is it flying, or still grounded?

It's never been grouned to my knowledge, though I could
be mistaking.

And you would not want to try
ACM with an F-15, F-14, or F-16. Their avionics, weapons,
and airframes are all superior.

That seems unlikely since their basic desing is 30 years old.

I'd take those two 30mms over the Vulcan any day. Choose
between Mica, Magic, Sidewinder, ASRAAM and AMRAAM, or
Apache, AS30L, ALARM, HARM, Maverick, or Exocet/AM39,
Penguin 3 and Harpoon. That will give any US fighter a
good run for its money.


We could just JOUST it for an interesting perspective:

http://www.eurofighter.starstreak.ne...hter/tech.html


Look at the export sales of the Rafale compared to the export
sales of the F-35.

What export sales?

Look at the partnership agreements signed by the UK, Australia,
Italy, Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Denmark, Norway and
Canada. There are currently contracts for 3002 aircraft with
many more in the negotiation phase.

Ok, so there haven't actually been any sales yet.

I seem to be missing your point though.



Regards...