وضع محرك بقوة اعلى ليس بالامر البسيط وكما كنت اقول سابقا يحتاج الى تمويل كبير جدا ....لهذا ان لم تجد فرنسا حل فاما ان تدفع الامارات ارقام كبيرة او تذهب للتايفون ..............
now here comes the most controversial of debates because the greatest drawback which rafale has is its power generated by the engines. Which is much lower than eurofighter typhoon and smaller machines like f-16.
The current engine flown by french air force generates 7.5 tonnes of power. Because rafale has two engines therefore it can generate upto 15 tonnes of power.this gives the aircraft the power to weight ratio of 1:1 when loaded with 50% fuel and 2.5 tonnes of weapon. Unfortunately when rafale is used to the hilt that is the maximum take-off weight of 25 tonnes, this power to weigh ratio degrades considerably which can prove an achilles heel for it.
french air force pilots are quite satisfied with the performance even in hot weather of uae and afghanistan. Currently french pilots cruise at a speed of 0.9 mach on a seven hour mission with a full ordinance load when flying to libya for bombing missions.
Uae pilots are struggling with the lower power of rafale engine because they are habituated in flying f-16 which are much smaller as mentioned earlier with a very big engine and rafle is unable to match that design or the power output.problem does not stop there either for uae. Uae air force would like to fly with 3 shaheen cruise missiles each of them weigh around 1,300kg, with that they would like to carry three 2,000 liter fuel tanks. Most pilot concede that when the temperature reaches 50 degrees it will be much easy to fly specially take-off with a thrust of 19 tonnes rather than 15 tonnes carrying such a heavy arsenal.
The new-generation m88-2 integrates the latest technologies, including low-emissions combustor, single-crystal turbine blades and powder metallurgy disks, as well as innovations to reduce electromagnetic and infrared signatures. It is a highly compact engine, developing 50 to 75 kn of thrust with afterburner (11,250 to 17,000 lb), giving it a very high thrust-to-weight ratio. The m88-2 also shows exceptionally carefree handling, especially during acceleration.
Snecma is developing an improved version of the m88 called the m88-4e, formerly known as the "tco pack", to power rafale multirole fighters. It will include upgrades to the high-pressure compressor and turbine, derived from technologies tested during the eco development program. The aim is to extend the service life and time between inspections for several parts of the engine. The development of the m88-4e is proceeding very satisfactorily. Qualification and delivery of the first production-standard m88-4e are now slated for the end of 2011.
Work on an improved m-88-2e4 engine is well advanced at snecma, but the goal is not to increase power but to lower the total cost of ownership (tco) by extending service life and time between inspections. The -2e4 will also reduce fuel burn by 2 to 4%, snecma says. Most probably these engines will be tested by november 2011
the improvements included in the m-88-2e4 engine will form the main part for the future 9-tonne engine. However, notes a dassault aviation executive, there’s a big stumbling block: “we need an order and a signature to launch the 9-tonne engine.” unfortunately if this kind of 9 tonne engine is put into rafale then the air went have to be increased by 1.5cm thus increasing the radar cross section. therefore dassault has to either change the design or material used to reduce the rcs.