zero-one wrote:At the end tho, Ate was asked which fighter would he take into an air superiority mission. He said if you will train me in an F-22, I'll take the F-22
There is no question about that. F-22 is currently in a league of its own when it comes to actual air superiority missions. It has VLO stealth, Mach 1.8+ supercruise, great maneuverability in all speed and altitudes along with very powerful radar and EW system. No other fighter aircraft has all those attributes. I see currently only F-35 being able to compete due to also having VLO stealth and even more comprehensive sensor suite along with more advanced sensor fusion and networking.
But when it comes only WVR dogfighting, then Rafale is one of the best 4th gen fighter aircraft around. It's powerful and maneuverable (like F-16 Block 50 or slightly better) and has possibly the best and most comprehensive sensor suite of all 4th gen fighters. I can see it being tough opponent even for F-22 in WVR dogfight exercises. But like all other 4th gen fighters, it would not fare well in real world combat against F-22.