The Dassault Rafale (literally meaning "gust of wind", and "burst of fire" in a more military sense) is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. Equipped with a wide range of weapons, the Rafale is intended to perform air supremacy, interdiction, aerial reconnaissance, ground support, in-depth strike, anti-ship strike and nuclear deterrence missions. The Rafale is referred to as an "omnirole" aircraft by Dassault.

In the late 1970s, the French Air Force and French Navy were seeking to replace and consolidate their current fleets of aircraft. In order to reduce development costs and boost prospective sales, France entered into an arrangement with UK, Germany, Italy and Spain to produce an agile multi-purpose fighter, the Eurofighter Typhoon. Subsequent disagreements over workshare and differing requirements led to France's pursuit of its own development programme. Dassault built a technology demonstrator which first flew in July 1986 as part of an eight-year flight-test programme, paving the way for the go-ahead of the project. The Rafale is distinct from other European fighters of its era in that it is almost entirely built by one country, involving most of France's major defence contractors, such as Dassault, Thales and Safran.

Many of the aircraft's avionics and features, such as direct voice input, the RBE2 AA active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar and the optronique secteur frontal infra-red search and track (IRST) sensor, were domestically developed and produced for the Rafale programme. Originally scheduled to enter service in 1996, the Rafale suffered significant delays due to post-Cold War budget cuts and changes in priorities. The aircraft is available in three main variants: Rafale C single-seat land-based version, Rafale B twin-seat land-based version, and Rafale M single-seat carrier-based version.

Introduced in 2001, the Rafale is being produced for both the French Air Force and for carrier-based operations in the French Navy. The Rafale has been marketed for export to several countries, and was selected for purchase by the Indian Air Force, the Egyptian Air Force, and the Qatar Air Force. The Rafale has been used in combat over Afghanistan, Libya, Mali, Iraq and Syria.

Pictured here is a 1:72 scale replica of a French Dassault Rafale B multirole fighter that was attached to Escadron de Chasse 14 "Gascogne", 4e Escadre de Chasse, during 2018. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 5-3/4-inches
Length: 8-1/4-inches

Release Date: September 2023

Historical Account: "Into the Wind" - Operation Chammal is a French military operation in Iraq and Syria in an attempt to contain the expansion of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and to support the Iraqi Army. Its name comes from the Shamal (Chammal in French), a northwesterly wind that blows over Iraq and the Persian Gulf states.

Airstrikes over Iraq started September 19th, 2014, and airstrikes over Syria started by the end of September 2015. The French operation was at first limited to airstrikes and French president Francois Hollande had stated that no ground troops would be deployed in the conflict. Additionally, the French frigate Jean Bart joined the United States Navy's Commander Task Force 50 (CTF 50) as an escort.

On November 14th, 2015, ISIS claimed that the terrorist attacks that took place in Paris the previous day were retaliation for Operation Chammal. In response, France decided to expand the scope of its operations against the Islamist group and more assets were deployed.