Manufactured by Dassault Aviation solely in France, the Rafale was designed to replace an ageing fleet of aircraft for France's Air Force, as well as to serve the Navy in carrier capacity. Today, Rafale C, D and M variants are in operation fulfilling a variety of roles including fighter, reconnaissance and deterrent. From conducting nuclear alert missions in France and patrolling NATO's eastern fronts, the Rafales of the French Air and Space Force and French Navy play a strategic role in protecting France and its NATO allies. Currently, there are 245 Rafales in service with the armed forces of France, Egypt, Greece, India and Qatar and more than 180 additional examples are expected to be manufactured and delivered to Indonesia, Egypt, Greece and United Arab Emirates by 2030. This book details the current status of all airworthy and operational Rafales around the world, with the active service history provided for many that have taken part in conflicts around the globe or been involved in peace-keeping missions and patrols. AUTHOR: Babak Taghvaee is an aviation journalist, historian and book author. He started his career as an aviation journalist by writing for AirForces Monthly and the Aviation Industries Magazine in 2008. Since then, he has written over 800 articles and news reports about military aviation for the magazine, as well as other brands of Key Publishing Ltd. Through his career, he has written four books about the Air Forces and Army Aviation Force of Iran and Ukraine, which were published in Austria and the UK between 2009 and 2020.
