Aircraft program
Omnirole, delta wing combat aircraft with twin turbofan engines.
70% of the wetted area is made from composites. 50% of the fuselage is manufactured from carbon fibre with side skins of aluminium-lithium alloy. The wings - swept-back, delta wings with close-coupled fully moving canards—are predominantly composites with titanium slats, Kevlar wing root and tip fairings. The single vertical tail fin is carbon fibre with honeycomb core in rudder. Engine and wheel doors are also carbon fibre.
Single pilot in Rafale C/M plus weapons system officer in Rafale B seated in 29 degree reclined ejection seats. Glass cockpit is fully digital and features side-opening hinged canopy coated in gold. Pilot faces digital display of two square multifunction LCD screens plus third wide angle head level display, with HOTAS controls, side-stick controller on right and throttle on left.
Technical reference compiled with AI research; a value appears only where two independent research passes and a web fact-check agree. Gaps are deliberate.
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See Analytics rates| Variant | Launch / first flight | Production end | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dassault Rafale B | 1982 / 1986 | Two-seater variant, being developed to accomodate single-pilot combat capability. | |
| Dassault Rafale C | 1986 / 1991 | Production: 26 (2025). Single-seat combat version for French Air Force. | |
| Dassault Rafale M | 1998 / 2001 | Single-seat, carrier-borne version of Rafale C. |
| Dassault Aviation | News |
Other aircraft programs: Dassault / ISAE Group Euroglider · Dassault 2000 series · Dassault 6X · Dassault 7X · Dassault 8X · Dassault 900LX · Dassault Falcon 10X · Dassault nEUROn · Dassault VORTEX ·
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