Optronique secteur frontal

The front hemisphere of the OSF is visible above the nose cone, beside the refuelling probe.

The Optronique Secteur Frontal (OSF) is a long-range optoelectronics system, developed for the French Dassault Rafale combat aircraft.

It allows target tracking through IRST (infrared search and track) and visual sensors:

• on the left, the main IR detector can be used as forward-looking infrared (FLIR) (to send a video signal to the pilot), or to detect:
  • air targets (at ranges up to 100 km)
  • surface or sea targets (up to 6 km)
• on the right, a TV/IR sensor us used for target identification (40 km range) and includes a laser rangefinder.

Visible waveband capability is included to identify targets in situations where visual contact is required by the rules of engagement.

The benefits in air-air confrontation are:

• passive long-distance detection
• target identification before engagement