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.
The aircraft as engineered: what it is built from, the systems it flies with, and its configuration — each box a theme.
Notable technologies — each tag names a technology on our research record for this aircraft, with its fitting status: Primary, Standard, Option or Planned.
Technical reference compiled with AI research; a value appears only where two independent research passes and a web fact-check agree. Gaps are deliberate.
Supplier geography and market analysis for this program — with an Analytics subscription.
Subscribe| 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 |
The program’s dated history — milestones, contracts, supplier selections and facilities, each linked to its source. Log in to view.
Information on this page is compiled from a variety of published sources; links do not necessarily imply recommendation or confirmation by the airframe manufacturer.
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