Rafale and Typhoon pilots switching planes

As announced a few weeks ago, a French Air Force Rafale pilot and a RAF Typhoon pilot are about to exchange their fighter jet.

Captain Marc-Antoine Gerard who is flying the Rafale since 2008 will therefore be integrated in an RAF Typhoon squadron while lieutenant Matt Johnstone will spend 2 years at the Normandie Niemen squadron (Mont de Marsan Air Base).

This exchange project was formalized last September 14th by a 90 min demonstration flight of the 2 jets over Scotland with  RAF Air Vice-Marshal Stuart Atha and the Commander of the French Air Force Command, Lieutenant General Guillaume Gelée on board.

[...]During the 90 minute flight the pair of aircraft flew at low and medium-level in Western Scotland to demonstrate handling characteristics before splitting to show the officers the various systems on each type of aircraft.[...]

Sources : RAF, Air&Cosmos

In the meantime, defense journalist Jean Marc Tanguy indicates on his blog that some typhoon will come to the Saint Dizier Air Base in October in order to develop new operational tactics for joint Typhoon/Rafale operations.