In a recent exercise of the Egyptian Air Force, it was reported that Rafale shot down the Su-35. But Russian military experts have “exploded” this idea in a very convincing way.
According to the various defence news website, the Su-35 fighter jet was shot down by Rafale, during an exercise of the Egyptian Air Force; drive both parties crazy. There was even an article on Polish Defense24 that added specifics, presenting its speculations as objective fact: During the exercise, a Russian Su-35 fighter jet was stationed, while the Rafale was the invader.
However, the pilot of the Rafale aircraft quickly realized that he was being tracked by the Su-35 radar and with the help of the SPECTRA electronic warfare system on the Rafale, the pilot jammed the radar of the aircraft, and beat the Su-35 fighter, without any problems. The pilot of the Russian-made Su-35 was unable to control his aircraft’s weapons; and the Rafale pilot easily tracked the enemy with radar, counterattacked, and eventually shot him down – Defense24 wrote.
First of all, confirm that the above information has unreliable sources; The Egyptian Ministry of Defense did not release information about this training air battle; and if so, its details, presented in blogs and interpreted in the Polish edition, should be treated with extreme caution.
Moreover, the article on Defense24 is heavily subjectively imposed on Russian fighters, when “affirming” in a “one-on-one” confrontation, France’s Rafale is clearly superior to Su-35’s. Russia.
According to Russian experts, the Su-35 has just begun to enter the Egyptian Air Force, in fact the pilot is still getting used to it. As for the Egyptian F-16 Block 40, there is no long-range air combat feature. If Defense24 thinks that the Su-35 loses to F-16 Block 40, it will be immediately “exploited” by readers.
So how did the Russian military “unmask” Defense24 about the development of the air war? In a battle, of course, the Su-35 must turn on the N035 Irbis radar with a diverging antenna array, to detect the enemy.
The radar of the Su-35 is the most powerful of all existing fighters, its maximum power is up to 20 kW. Accordingly, the aircraft detection range is up to 400 km; With a target like Rafale, the target detection distance is 270 km. Meanwhile, Rafale’s radar can only detect the Su-35 at a distance of 120 km.
It is simply obvious that the Su-35 pilot detects first and fires first, and the Russian plane is in a favorable situation, since it has an R-37 missile, the range of which exceeds 300 km. Why did the Egyptian pilot not take the opportunity to launch the rocket?
On modern fighters, there are radar warning devices for the enemy, not just Rafale. However, detecting the Su-35 radar signal from a distance, also did not allow Rafale to launch air-to-air missiles, because in order to be guided, the target must be locked on Rafale’s radar, not the radiation sensor.
So it is absurd that a pilot of the Su-35, even though he did not prepare in advance, but found and locked a clear image of the enemy on the radar, for some reason did not rush to launch the missile.
And as the article on Defense24 “reports”: Rafale’s pilot took advantage of this “opportunity”, by turning on the SPECTRA defense system to suppress the enemy’s radar. And did the Rafale pilot get the desired result, without “anything wrong”?
This is a completely absurd thing, because the SPECTRA electronic warfare complex, jams the enemy’s radar by fooling the reflected signal back to the Su-35 radar receiver. However, to do this, SPECTRA needs to have a very significant radiated power, about the same magnitude as that of the Irbis radar on the Su-35.
But that is not achievable, for the SPECTRA system. In addition, the SPECTRA electronic warfare system uses its own antenna, which is smaller than the main antenna of the radar. So there is absolutely no problem, Rafale pilot just turns on the SPECTRA system, can “act as you like”?
In a narrow circle war (within sight), it must be affirmed that maneuverability is not Rafale’s strong point at all, but this advantage always belongs to Russian fighters; and with a very powerful infrared sensor system and maneuverability, Rafale is certainly no match for the Su-35.
So what do you think about the above opinion shared by Russian experts? Kindly share your thoughts.
“his is a completely absurd thing, because the SPECTRA electronic warfare complex, jams the enemy’s radar by fooling the reflected signal back to the Su-35 radar receiver. However, to do this, SPECTRA needs to have a very significant radiated power, about the same magnitude as that of the Irbis radar on the Su-35.”
The russian expert seems to know how spectra works….or is liying…
Your “experts” are in damage control mode or are liying.
Spectra does not have to be as powerful as the emitting radar it is trying to jammed.
When the wave reach the Rafale after what ? 100 km ? 200 km ? It has become very weak.
On top of that, only a fragment of the energy is send back to the radar of the SU-35.
The achievement here is not to blind a radar with sheer power like a F18 Growler, it is to exactly know what kind of energy your mainfraim is going to send back and to know how to modify it in order to deceive the emiting radar.
Well Russian expert is a liar, frist thing SU35 is a Big plane, i think his RCS is 12 m2, that mean Rafales radar will see him over 200 km, not 120 like he said. Because radar of Rafale can see target about 2 m2 140 km away. And how in the hell he can see SU35 who has about 10-12 m2 RCS 120 km away?