Dassaul Rafale

The multi-role Rafale is, after the SAAB JAS-39 Gripen, the last national European aircraft that was created in one country primarily for the needs of a given state. The increasing complexity and financial demands of modern combat aircraft mean that since the 1970s, European countries have been joining forces in the development and production of these machines, and they are therefore created in the form of multinational projects with all their advantages and disadvantages. This was also to be the case with the Dassault Rafale, which was originally developed as a French contribution to European projects for new combat aircraft. However, further cooperation on a common European type became impossible for France, because while the other countries involved in the later Eurofighter aircraft were interested in a wide division of development and production capacities, since none of them retained the complete ability to develop modern aircraft, the opposite was true for France. A long line of Mirage fighter jets served not only in France but also in dozens of foreign countries, and therefore, even at the time of the development of the new aircraft, the French industry had the capabilities of complete development and production. Therefore, involvement in the European program would necessarily lead to a decline in these capabilities and probably also to a decline in the aviation industry as a whole. Moreover, France was the only country that required a single aircraft capable of being deployed in multiple versions both from land bases and from aircraft carriers. This led to a fundamental technical split between France and the other partners, who required aircraft optimized for other tasks and for whom the weight limit for airborne deployment was not so crucial. That is why France decided to withdraw from the joint project and continue development independently. The experimental ACX project became the independent French Rafale model, which was already being developed at a time when the ATF competition for a new fifth-generation tactical combat aircraft was underway in the USA. However, Dassault decided to meet the requirements for the fifth generation of aircraft only partially and to continue to prioritize aerodynamic properties and ease of operation as well as low maintenance costs. The resulting aircraft proved that the national project is much cheaper, faster in terms of time, but certainly not inferior in terms of capabilities to the international project in the form of the Eurofighter model. It was therefore a great satisfaction for France when the Rafale was flown several years earlier than the Eurofighter prototype. It also entered regular service earlier and achieved greater export expansion.

In France, the Rafale has become a practically universal platform for the military air force, alongside which the ever-decreasing number of Mirage 2000D and 2000-5F aircraft, which are awaiting replacement, are barely surviving. In the case of the navy, the aircraft has long been the only offensive means. In France alone, the Rafale has therefore replaced six types of aircraft originally intended for various tasks, which speaks of its universal capabilities for air combat, the destruction of targets on land and sea, or reconnaissance or electronic warfare. The Rafale aircraft is also doing well on export markets and will be in service with four European air forces and others outside Europe. The French administration was able to sell the aircraft thanks to the absence of foreign components, and therefore the necessary third-party approvals, which is one of the main problems of the Eurofighter project. Despite all its advantages, the aircraft must compete on the market with the upcoming fifth generation in the form of F-35 aircraft and, recently, others. But the development of the fifth and now sixth generation is so financially demanding that France had to give up its independence for the first time in history and join the FCAS project. The Rafale is therefore quite possibly the last national aircraft in Europe.