Recently, the official account of the French Air and Space Force released a video showing its "Rafale" fighter jets performing outstandingly in the "Atlantic Trident - 25" exercise in June this year. With its maneuverability and advanced onboard weapons, it successfully "shot down" the F-35 stealth fighter and the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet combat aircraft.
Earlier in 2009, during the "Advanced Tactical Leadership Course" military exercise held in the UAE, the French Air Force's "Rafale" fighter also "shot down" an American Air Force F-22 stealth fighter.
Seeing these, does it make you think that the "Rafale" is quite formidable? However, looking at the India-Pakistan air battle on May 7th, three Indian Air Force "Rafale" fighters were shot down by the Pakistani Air Force's J-10CP fighter, while the Indian Air Force did not shoot down any Pakistani Air Force aircraft, appearing very embarrassed. How come the "Rafale" performs so poorly in real combat?
In fact, the "Rafale" performing well in exercises and being pitiful in actual combat is not contradictory at all.
The "Rafale" shooting down the F-35, F/A-18E/F, and F-22 in exercises all have certain conditions, which are that they were achieved within visual range dogfights. In visual range, the maximum advantage of stealth aircraft, which is their stealth capability, loses its effectiveness. Dogfighting is about which pilot is more agile and can lock onto the enemy aircraft first and then fire a dogfight air-to-air missile. It can be said that in dogfighting, there is not much difference between fourth-generation and fifth-generation fighter aircraft. In fact, in visual range dogfighting, not only can the "Rafale" shoot down stealth aircraft, but any current operational fighter aircraft in the world could potentially shoot down the F-35 and F/A-18E/F, even our retired J-6 fighter could do so.
Therefore, the French often boast about the performance of the "Rafale" in exercises, but always limit it to visual range dogfights, never mentioning the results of beyond-visual-range air combat against stealth aircraft. This is because in beyond-visual-range air combat, the "Rafale" would be beaten to a pulp by stealth aircraft.
The实战 of the India-Pakistan air battle is exactly a beyond-visual-range air combat. The Indian Air Force's "Rafale" fighter, which is basically fighting alone, faces the J-10CP fighter of the Pakistani Air Force supported by a system, and gets beaten to a pulp unilaterally.
Therefore, the French keep boasting about the "Rafale". Under different combat conditions, the combat power can be vastly different. No one is stupid; if I have an advantage in beyond-visual-range air combat, why would I want to fight a dangerous dogfight with you.
Original text: www.toutiao.com/article/1841143497821260/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.