Optronique secteur frontal

The OSF (Optronique secteur frontal) is a long range optoelectronics system developed for the French Dassault Rafale combat aircraft.

OSF is visible upfront, beside the refueling boom.

With its narrow field, the visible waveband capability is truly valuable to identify targets in situations where visual contact is required by the rules of engagement.[1]

It allows target tracking, through IR (infra-red search and track) and visual sensors:

  • on the left, the main IR detector can be used as FLIR (to send a video signal to the pilot), or to detect:
    • air targets at ranges up to 100 kilometers
    • surface or sea targets at up to 6 kilometers
  • on the right a TV/IR sensor for target identification (40 km range) including laser rangefinder.[2]

The benefits in air-air confrontation are:

  • passive long-distance detection
  • target identification before engagement

References
  1. Dassault Aviation Smart and discrete sensors
  2. "L'optronique secteur frontal (L'OSF)". www.aviation-francaise.com.


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