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Aeronavale faces multirole challenge...

Aeronavale faces multirole challenge...

French naval aviation (known as the Aeronavale) is wrestling with the operational crew concept for its planned fleet of 60 Dassault Rafale M multirole fighter aircraft.

According to Rear Adm Louis de Contenson, Toulon-based flag officer naval aviation (ALAVIA), it is by no means clear whether all naval Rafale pilots can be multirole trained, so that the Rafale's versatile capabilities may be exploited with the greatest possible flexibility.

"It could be asking a little bit too much from our aircrew to be fully trained in air-to-ground roles such as day/night all-weather strike and reconnaissance, as well as in air defense roles," Adm De Contenson said.

"Perhaps it can be done, but it all depends on how much training we will be able to do, how much budget will be available.

"We will be writing the manuals over the next couple of years, initially in the air defense role because that is what the first batch of Rafales is configured for," said Cdr Bruno Thouvenin, a former Super Etendard squadron commander and now a senior staff officer for ALAVIA.

The first batch (Standard F1 aircraft delivered between now and 2002) will be followed by Standard F2 aircraft halfway through the decade, and the fully multirole F3 variant (yet to be ordered) between 2008-12.

Separate from the Aeronavale, the French Air Force is planning for a mixed fleet of 212 single-seat and twin-seat Rafales, some 60% of which will be combat-capable two-seaters flown by a pilot and a weapon systems officer (WSO), much like the USAF F-15E. These two-seaters will be assigned particularly challenging missions such as night all-weather precision strikes.

Recently it became known that the Aeronavale is making preparations to switch to a mix of single-seater and two-seater variants (see story this issue).

Capt Edouard Guillaud, commanding officer of the new aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle (see separate story on p13) said that one issue is the single-seater pilot workload.

But also, the possible training, tactics/weapons interoperability, logistics and maintenance advantages of standardizing have come into play.

"Going for two-seaters could increase our ability to support joint operations," Capt Guillaud said, "but we would probably need to train more aircrew while we would also need more tanker support because the range of the two-seater is less than that of the single-seater Rafale."

The chief operations officer of Charles de Gaulle, former Super Etendard squadron commander and US Navy F/A-18 exchange pilot Cdr Herve de Bonnaventure, told IDR that in his view, the multirole single-pilot concept is the best option for the relatively small Aeronavale.

"Some people have said that what a single pilot can manage in the F/A-18 cannot be done in Rafale because Rafale is a much more advanced aircraft. I don't agree, it should even be easier in Rafale because of its level of cockpit integration," Cdr De Bonnaventure said.

"I'd be in favor of a 'two-seater concept on the ground': single-seat multirole fighter pilots supported by dedicated planners, so that the pilot can concentrate totally on flying the mission.

"However, we do not know what will be asked of us in 15 years time. It may be that controllers on the ground will be sending up so much information to the aircraft that a two-person crew is needed to manage the data."

The Aeronavale is making preparations to switch to a mix of single-seater and two-seater variants. (Source: Dassault)

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