{"id":60571,"date":"2025-08-23T20:42:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T18:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=60571"},"modified":"2025-08-28T19:39:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T17:39:17","slug":"france-shows-evidence-of-the-virtual-downing-of-an-american-f-35a-by-a-rafale-c-fighter-jet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2025\/08\/23\/france-shows-evidence-of-the-virtual-downing-of-an-american-f-35a-by-a-rafale-c-fighter-jet\/","title":{"rendered":"France shows evidence of the virtual downing of an American F-35A by a Rafale C fighter jet"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hay un gran debate entre aficionados a la aviaci\u00f3n sobre si cazas que carecen de capacidades furtivas ser\u00edan capaces de vencer a un F-35.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2024\/11\/17\/formula-1-driver-charles-leclerc-flies-a-rafale-b-fighter-jet-reaching-over-8g\/\">Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc flies a Rafale B fighter jet reaching over 8G<\/a><\/rel><br \/>\n<rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2024\/12\/30\/the-rivalry-between-the-f-35-and-the-eurofighter-analyzed-by-their-operators-and-their-sales\/\">The rivalry between the F-35 and the Eurofighter analyzed by their operators and their sales<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n<p><strong>There are fighters that could be serious rivals for the F-35 if they were on opposing sides<\/strong>, such as the Eurofighter Typhoon (manufactured jointly by Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom) and <strong>the French Dassault Rafale<\/strong>, which is the most modern interceptor currently used by the Arm\u00e9e de l'Air (the French air force).<\/p>\n<div class=\"foto_piedefoto\"><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54739600841_70e4ce2cf3_o.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54739600841_93de8882c7_c.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"piedefoto\">Four French Rafale fighters from the 30th Fighter Wing flying over Finland during exercise Atlantic Trident on June 25, 2025 (Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvidshub.net\/image\/9133555\/atlantic-trident-25-100th-arw-refuels-48th-fw-f-35s-f-15s-and-french-air-and-space-force-rafales\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">U.S. Air Force<\/a>).<\/div>\n<p><strong>From June 16 to 27, France deployed six Rafale fighter jets to Finland for exercise Atlantic Trident 25<\/strong>, a joint exercise with the United States, the United Kingdom, and the host country. <strong>On August 20, the French Air Force published an interesting video about this exercise<\/strong> (the video is in French; you can activate automatic English subtitles in the bottom bar of the player):<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"270 Aviateurs participent \u00e0 l&#039;exercice \u201cAtlantic Trident\u201d en Finlande\" width=\"665\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hcXmGvg6Xq8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The Arm\u00e9e de l'Air usually has a modest number of views on YouTube, but <strong>this video has gone viral and has already been viewed more than 100,000 times<\/strong>. The reason for this audience success can be found in the HUD recordings of Rafale C fighters featured in the video. Among the images we see, for example, <strong>a Finnish F\/A-18C locked onto the reticle of a French fighter, a virtual kill signal<\/strong> in an exercise like this:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54739752918_781d1cdf8d_o.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54739752918_469a00a5e2_c.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>But shooting down an F\/A-18C, a fighter jet older than the Rafale, doesn't seem to be much of a feat. <strong>The reason this video went viral is this image, which we can see at 3:24<\/strong> (click on the image to enlarge it):<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54739769969_9d1cb1ec30_o.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54739769969_1f03c8616e_c.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>What we see here is a United States Air Force (USAF) F-35A stealth fighter.<\/strong> The US roundel is clearly visible on the port wing. The aircraft is locked on the reticle. The F-35A remains locked for several seconds. <strong>So, a Rafale C would have clearly defeated a much more advanced F-35A.<\/strong> France must be very proud.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54739752928_3c5af8df2e_o.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54739752928_7992d5a1a2_c.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Arm\u00e9e de l'Air has released this image of one of the possible victims of this engagement.<\/strong> It is an F-35A from the 495th Fighter Squadron \"Valkyries\" (495 FS) based at RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk, England. This unit has been equipped with the F-35A since 2021. <strong>The French Rafales were from the 30th Fighter Wing<\/strong>, based at Mont-de-Marsan in southwestern France, a unit created on May 1, 1953, disbanded in 1994, and reactivated on September 3, 2015.<\/p>\n<div class=\"foto_piedefoto\"><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54739815043_9942acef35_o.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54739815043_7ccd48d07a_c.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"piedefoto\">Two F-35As from the USAF's 495th Fighter Squadron \"Valkyries\" flying over Finland during exercise Atlantic Trident on June 25, 2025 (Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvidshub.net\/image\/9133554\/atlantic-trident-25-100th-arw-refuels-48th-fw-f-35s-f-15s-and-french-air-and-space-force-rafales\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">U.S. Air Force<\/a>).<\/div>\n<p><strong>The Rafale and the Eurofighter are highly maneuverable fighters and are highly likely to defeat an F-35 in a \"dog fight,\"<\/strong> i.e., close-range aerial combat. Both aircraft are highly maneuverable thanks to their powerful thrust and their delta-wing and canard-wing configuration. <strong>However, the F-35 is designed to win in BVR combat<\/strong>, beyond visual range, without being detected by its enemies. <strong>A Rafale likely wouldn't even have had the chance to get close enough to an F-35A<\/strong> to even consider a \"dog fight\" between the two.<\/p>\n<div class=\"foto_piedefoto\"><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54739838353_337441cfd4_o.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54739838353_0e9534d102_c.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"piedefoto\">An F-35A from the USAF's 495th Fighter Squadron \"Valkyries\" flying behind a KC-135 tanker aircraft just after an in-flight refueling over Finland during exercise Atlantic Trident on June 18, 2025 (Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvidshub.net\/image\/9123393\/atlantic-trident-25-100th-arw-refuels-48th-fw-f-35s-trains-with-finnish-air-force-f-18s\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">U.S. Air Force<\/a>).<\/div>\n<p>However, it should be remembered that <strong>during the Cold War, there was an idea that US aircraft would defeat their allies in BVR combat<\/strong> thanks to the use of air-to-air missiles. That was what was planned in theory. <strong>That doctrine fell apart during the Vietnam War,<\/strong> when the Americans began to suffer considerable losses in close-range combat, which is why the Top Gun academy was founded in the US Navy. <strong>Today, air-to-air missiles have advanced significantly and evading them is increasingly difficult<\/strong>, but the possibility of close-range combat should never be ruled out.<\/p>\n<p>---<\/p>\n<p><small>Main photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvidshub.net\/image\/9137566\/atlantic-trident-25-100th-arw-refuels-nato-allies-over-finland\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">U.S. Air Force<\/a>. A French Rafale C flying over Finland during Exercise Atlantic Trident on June 26, 2025.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hay un gran debate entre aficionados a la aviaci\u00f3n sobre si cazas que carecen de capacidades furtivas ser\u00edan capaces de vencer a un F-35.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[11546,19534],"tags":[1108,6761,7072,7281,8064,10575,13611,16654,18261,19369,25103],"class_list":["post-60571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-military-aviation","category-defense-portada-eng","tag-armee-de-lair","tag-united-states-air-force-usaf","tag-lockheed-martin-f-35-lightning-ii","tag-mcdonnell-douglas-fa-18-hornet","tag-dassault-rafale","tag-france","tag-finland","tag-30e-escadre-de-chasse","tag-finnish-air-force","tag-495th-fighter-squadron","tag-atlantic-trident-25"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-14 23:44:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60571\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}