Rafale Rising

摘要

The capabilities of the Rafale have grown considerably since the first standard F1 examples were delivered to the Aeronavale (French navy air arm) at Landivisiau naval air station in 2001. The Rafale was conceived to perform an extremely wide range of missions, from land bases and from aircraft carriers, hence the word 'omnirole' invented by Dassault Aviationto better reflect the fighters capabilities. The first ten Rafales - all delivered to the Aeronavale - were only capable of conducting air-defence/air superiority missions, but the variety of tasks that could be performed was rapidly expanded thus reflecting the type's inherent operational flexibility.