GoPro video: aboard French Rafale dogfighting alongside RAF Typhoons and US F-22s during TrilatEx

Published on: December 12, 2015 at 6:05 PM

Join a French Air Force Dassault Rafale during a Trilateral Exercise sortie.

Underway from Dec. 2 to 18, the inaugural Trilateral anti-access/area denial exercise sees U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor, Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoons and French Air Force Dassault Rafale, teaming to improve the way allied air forces can fight in a highly-contested scenario made of layered long-range air defenses (like the super-Missile Engagement Zone established by the Russians in Syria…)

The TrilatEx also features some Red Air forces, i.e. “Bad Guys” in the form of U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles and the Langley-based T-38 Talons that always train against the Raptor stealth fighter).

Note: the Rafales operate without external fuel tanks, that would limit the maximum load factor to 5.5 g, moreover, during the engagements, one of the French “omnirole” planes can be seen releasing flares to deceive a (simulated) IR-guided air-to-air missile.

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.
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