Operation Harmattan : First pictures of the Rafale which were engaged in Libya

Rafale C loaded with Mica 6 mica missiles for Air defense

Pictures of the French Rafale preparing to leave the Saint Dizier Air Base today morning 11:00AM.

Typical weapon load was :
- 6 Mica EM/IR + 3 supersonic 1250L tanks for the Air defense Rafale
- 6 mica EM/IR + 1 Reco-NG pod + 2 subsonic 2000L tanks for the recce planes.
- 2 mica IR + 4 AASM bombs (250 kg) + 2 subsonic 2000L tank for the CAS planes
Source : French Ministry of Defense

Rafale loaded with AASM bombs

 Also see  this video from AFP
 and From Al Jazeera

Rafale C loaded with Mica 6 mica missiles for Air defense

Rafale  loaded with Reco-NG pod

Details on the Rafale mission over Libya

All in all, some 20 airplanes are conducting the first missions over libya


11h00 AM 4 Rafale C (Provence squadron) armed with mica missiles left the Saint Dizier Air base to enforce the No Flight Zone over Libya (UN resolution 1973)

11h10 AM  A patrol of 2 more Rafale B with a Reco-NG pod left the Dizier Air base for a recce mission over Libya.

02h30 PM 2 mirage 2000D (Ardennes squadron / Nancy Air Base) escorted by 2 mirage 2000-5 (Cigognes squadron / Dijon Air Base) as well as 2 Rafale with AASM bombs rejoin Libya for CAS operations

Other air assets taking part in this first day : 6 French Boeing C135 (Bretagne squadron) and 1 E-3F from Istres and Avor Air bases.

EA-18G Growler with their 2 ALQ-99 jaming pods ready  to take off

American EA-18G Growler have also been seen on an Italian Air base and will take part in the SEAD operations.









At 05h45PM, the French MoD revealed that one of those fighters shot at a military Libyan vehicule.
Edit 1 : Qatar TV, Al Jazzeera is reporting that at least 4 Libyan tanks would have been detroyed by French fighters.
Edit 2 : It is now confirmed that a Rafale B from the Gascogne squadron has attaked a Libyan tank column with its AASM bombs detroying 4 of them.

French fighters engaged in the first stage of the operations over Libya

Source: Press conference of the French defense Ministry.
BBC News
Thanks to Tmor for additional info ;)

Rafale goes to Libya....for war

Paris, 03h00pm French authorities confirm that French fighters have entered the Lybian air space and are currently performing recce missions.
Those Fighters are Rafale with Reco-NG pods from the Saint Dizier Air base and are said to also carry weapons to engage Gaddafi ground forces currently attacking Benghazi.

In the meantimes, the CdG aircraft carrier is preparing to leave its home base of Toulon tomorrow morning.

In the media :
Reuters
Al Arabiya

Rafale pictures of the day

Rafale C120 during the Kecskemet air show in Hungary, August 6th 2010 - © Marcin R. Karch 

Rafale C120 at Yelahanka Air Force Station, India, February, 9th 2011 - © Nitin Nair

Source : jetPhotos.net 

Pictures of the Meteor wind tunnel trials

Some very interesting shots of the MBDA Meteor missile in the ONERA S3MA wind tunnel.

S3MA wind tunnel overview

The S3MA facility is a supersonic wind tunnel capable of producing powerfull wind streams up to mach 5.5. It's located on the site of Modane Avrieux in the French Alpes and is the primary testing setup for French Missiles aerodynamics since 1959


Source : http://windtunnel.onera.fr/

Overview of the Meteor in the S3MA chamber

IR imagery of the missile airframe during high mach trials

Air intake shields opening

Retro, Rafale A demo at Farnborough 88

The demo of the the Rafale A at the British Farnborough Air show September 4th 1988.

Rafale C125 delivered

The 25 th Rafale C (C125) has been delivered to the French Air Force. On this picture taken by Eric-51, The plane is still lacking its squadron markings.
11 Rafale will be delivered this year to the French Forces which will bring the total number of planes produced by Dassault to 104 (on 286 planed).