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Subject: 1st pics of the next generation rafale
jessmo_24    4/19/2011 11:54:00 AM
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jessmo_24       4/19/2011 11:56:04 AM
There is a kind of beautiful disorganization at this bustling arms trade exhibition in Rio de Janeiro. Sure, my taxi driver is instructed by gate guards to drop me off next to a garbage dump behind the convention center, but security lets me walk through the exhibit hall hours before it opens -- and even before I've collected my press pass! And, yes, the press room is cramped and crowded, but it's left shockingly unlocked overnight, allowing early-risers like myself access to a decent internet connection and all the bottled water I can drink! 

Without further ado, here are photo highlights of my favorite Latin American arms bazaar.

1. Dassault's futuristic stealth bomber:

It's only an artist's concept, but this vision (see bottom left-corner, below) of a French fifth-generation strike aircraft definitely caught my attention. The slide appeared during Dassault's press briefing on the Rafale. I didn't have my best camera, it was a dark room, and I had a bad angle, so this is the best I could do with the image. It makes you wonder what else Dassault is thinking about after the Rafale and the unmanned nEUROn demonstrator.
 
http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2011/04/14/Rafale%20next%20gen%20slide%20thumb.jpg" width="560" height="414" /> 
 
*ttp://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/
 
 
 
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Das Kardinal       4/19/2011 1:22:31 PM
It's not a "next generation Rafale" but I suppose you couldn't resist putting "Rafale" in the title. 
It seems to be a CGI of the early 2000 Petit Duc/AVE UCAV technology demonstrator (which flew for real, though I wasn't aware of...). 
 
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gf0012-aust       4/19/2011 4:47:22 PM
a journalist too lazy to get his facts in order.....
 
confusing a "future" rafale for a petit duc (or at worst case even the grand duc) is just abject laziness.
 
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jessmo_24       4/19/2011 5:05:05 PM
Maybe the plane is for a scaled up version of the demonstrator.
Do you think that by 2020 the French will have a desire for a new program?
 
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MK       4/19/2011 5:13:11 PM
Sooner or later they must launch a new programme to replace the Rafale on time somewhere around 2040 or earlier.
 
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heraldabc       4/19/2011 9:40:37 PM

Sooner or later they must launch a new programme to replace the Rafale on time somewhere around 2040 or earlier.
Still no internal carriage, though. The petit-le-duc  was a small demonstrator.
 

Notice the dual canted vertical stabilizers and no canards? The end result was NeuRON.
 
I don't know if this concept shown is related to that UAV progression of development at all.
 
H.
 
 
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MK       4/20/2011 6:40:06 AM
I have seen this render a long time ago already. It's probably one of many concepts. It's still a long way until something useful will emerge out of it. To my knowledge there currently no formal requirement for a Rafale successor at all.
 
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