This article first appeared in the January 1986 Flight Test News.
LYNN, Massachusetts — When the French Rafale Experimental Prototype Aircraft was recently unveiled at the Avions Marcel Dassault-Breguet Aviation’s St. Cloud development facilities, its engines were a pair of General Electric Company F404s. With its first flight scheduled for mid-1986, the twin-engine Rafale is slated to be the first non-U.S. designed and built aircraft to fly under F404 power.
Burton A. Riemer, general manager of General Electric’s F404 Project Department, said, “We are gratified by the progress of this French Experimental Aircraft Program. Flight test engines were shipped to France during the last three months. The engines are currently undergoing altitude performance calibration testing at the French government’s aclay (sic) test facility. After this testing sequence has been completed, the F404s will join the aircraft at the flight test center in Istres for final assembly and ground testing in preparation for a May 1986 first flight.
“The Dassault-Breguet Rafale,” he continued, “has been developed as a flying test bed for 1990s combat aircraft technology.”
This article first appeared in the January 1986 Flight Test News.