Originally Posted by ORAC
As point of history.
The reason the French pulled out of Eurofighter was because of problems over weight and size. The French required an aircraft of no more than 10 tons in order for it to be able to operate off the Foch and campaigned vigorously for that to be the limit for Eurofighter. The remaining members of the consortium didnīt have that limit and either could not get the capabilities that they required inside the limit or werenīt willing to accept the restrictions in payload, range etc. Hnece the French pulling out and doing their own thing.
MTOW for Typhoon is 21 000 kg
MTOW for Rafale is 19 500 kg
Hardly a big difference, and hardly worth developing a new aircraft for. The motives of the French are never simple.