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Photos – RAAF refuels French Rafales

written by australianaviation.com.au | October 7, 2014
A French Rafale F1 off the wing of the KC-30.
A French Rafale F1 off the wing of the KC-30.
A Rafale refuels from the RAAF KC-30. (Defence)
A Rafale refuels from the RAAF KC-30. (Defence)

The RAAF KC-30A deployed to the Middle East refuelled French Armée de l’Air Rafale F1 fighter jets over Iraq on Friday.

KC-30A A39-002 is part of the RAAF’s 400 personnel strong Air Task Group deployed to Al Minhad Air Base near Dubai in the UAE, and began flying operational missions over Iraq in support of anti-IS missions on October 1.

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Comments (8)

  • Michael

    says:

    Checking out the French Air Force’s future tankers maybe.

    I’ve never understood why French fighter aircraft use fixed refuelling probes. Are retractable ones really that unreliable?

  • someone

    says:

    Two main reasons for fixed probes are fuel flow speed (higher transfer rate with fixed probes) and maintenance (one less mechanism means lower maintenance needs). The latter is the most important reason, cost-saving measures, no matter how petty, are always very popular with accountants.

  • Michael

    says:

    I thought the French were really into aesthetics. The fixed probe just looks damn ugly. hahaha.

    But seriously from a practical point of view I would have thought it would increase RCS and drag no matter how well they have designed it to accommodate these two factors.

  • Paul

    says:

    Nice Aircraft! 10g+ capable

  • craig simpson

    says:

    A pity that humans can’t handle 10+ g very well. Not very stealth either.

  • Jeff Atkinson

    says:

    If you read Wikipedia”s Article on this aircraft you will find it has a reasonable stealth ability,The speed and armaments are probably better than the super hornet .Canada interestingly dropped the new f35 because of the cost blowouts and have now ordered this aircraft.So has India and a multidude of other countries.Would of probably have been a better aircraft to purchase for reliability and performance for Australia.A lot more cheaper i bet.

  • Wayne

    says:

    When did Canada order the Rafale? They’re now looking at a SLEP for their CF-18’s with a view to “possibly” buying F-35’s in a few years time…

    India has not finalised their Rafale contract although they probably will. Not sure who else has signed on the dotted line. Many lookers but few takers…

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