MERIGNAC, France, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- The French government has given the go-ahead to Dassault Aviation to develop the F3 R, a new standard model of the Rafale combat aircraft.
The F3 R standard, an evolution of the Rafale F3, is part of the ongoing process to improve the aircraft and will feature the integration of the European Meteor long-range air-to-air missile produced by MBDA following last year's introduction of active array radar on new production aircraft.