Dassault Rafale

The Dassault Rafale is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter designed and built by Dassault Aviation. It is intended for air supremacy, interdiction, reconnaissance, ground support, deep strike, anti-ship strike and nuclear deterrence, and Dassault markets it as an omnirole fighter because one aircraft can fly several different missions in a single sortie. It came out of the late 1970s search of the French Air Force and Navy for a common replacement fleet; France left the European fighter partnership that became the Eurofighter Typhoon after disagreements over workshare and requirements, and Dassault flew a technology demonstrator in July 1986. The aircraft is almost entirely built in France, with Thales and Safran supplying much of its equipment. It entered service in 2001 in single-seat land-based, twin-seat land-based and single-seat carrier-based versions, and has been bought by several export customers including Egypt, India, Qatar and Greece.