While the RAFALE C is probably overweight to keep as much commonality with the M , it cannot be by very much.
It has very similar dimensions in common with ,the also
2-engined, TYPHOON save for a couple of inches left and right but weighs about 1 ton less than the typhoon ,probably due to the latters bigger wing (comparing TYPHOON vs RAFALE M here, the heaviest of the 2).
If you take G-load limits , max framelife and MTOW in consideration, they (both EF and RAFALE) didn't compromise on strength and durability.
All this compared with the
one-engined F35, one wonders where all this weight has gone, empty weight is substantially more ,2 to 5 tons heavier than the Eurocanards, but dimension wise it really is not any bigger.
All this with a much smaller wing ,apart for the F35C, which is therefor no less than +5 tons heavier than the RAFALE M @OEW, giving no edge in framelife, G loads, while , according to the latest list of problems that still need to be solved, still having structural issues up until today.
PS;
Next on the F-35
Next on the F-35’s list of issues? Cyberattacks Provided by iPolitics
Posted on Wed, May 16, 2012, 10:45 am by Colin Horgan
And then there was the software.
Already, the F-35 program has been singled out as a target for international hackers and now a former vice-chairman of the U.S. military Joint Cheifs of Staff is raising the issue again.
Marine Gen. James “Hoss” Cartwright told the Joint Warfighting Conference that he fears the F-35 could prove to be as vulnerable to enemy hackers as older Humvees were to roadside bombs, according to a report from AOL Defense.
“We built the F-35 with absolutely no protection for it from a cyber standpoint,” he said, adding that there ought to be a switch that can shut off the aircraft’s electronic transmission functions in case enemies access them.
Sounds far fetched, until you remember what happened to that US drone in IRAN, signals can be intercepted and manipulated, the more integration of something like an advanced datalink and complete sensorfusion, the more possibilities exist for it to be corrupted by enemy forces.
Another negative rant about the F35, I'm getting tired of it myself.