Book. “Rafale: 40 Years of Excellence and Victories”
Journalist Alexis Rocher tackles the cornerstone of French military aviation with a meticulously detailed and comprehensive work. A technical book, then, but also a visual feast!
Here is a tribute to the Rafale that will delight purists and others alike, penned by one of the writers of the magazine “Le Fana de l’aviation,” Alexis Rocher, editor-in-chief of the famous publication! To do so, the author first traces the Rafale’s origins, from the lack of consensus within Europe regarding a multi-role aircraft to its first flight, via its genesis—taking us back to the 1970s and 1980s.
The journalist then went on to recount the Rafale’s early successes, including a prototype for the Navy that took flight as early as 1991 (the Rafale M entered service a decade later), six years after its very first unveiling at Saint-Cloud —an episode during which Marcel Dassault (who passed away shortly thereafter) had responded that the aircraft would be “a global aircraft” to a press that criticized it for not being the result of a European project.
As part of his work on this book, Alexis Rocher then examined the Rafale’s performance—both within the French Air and Space Force and, of course, in the context of its early export successes—highlighting its now indispensable status as part of France’s heritage. All of this before concluding with its current position on the “global” stage, with export sales skyrocketing, a dominant strategic role, and new prospects opening up for the aircraft; one that seems to have many years (decades?) ahead of it—and soon with “companion drones”! In short, here are 160 pages that are particularly well-illustrated and thoroughly documented, as befits a symbol of French industry.
Book. “Rafale: 40 Years of Excellence and Victories.” Author: Alexis Rocher. Publisher: Éditions Casa. ISBN: 9782380586695
