Welcome back to the first new drawing I’ve drawn in months. Holy hell, it feels good to draw again.
 
Anyways, I love Plane Ponies, and I thought I’d draw one of my favourite planes in the sky; The Pride of the France and the guardian of the Fifth Republic’s skies since 2001 - The Dassault Rafale
 
He’s a friendly little guy, and all he wants to do is show you his new cruise missile and that completely destroy you. You know, fun stuff :3
 
Interesting little tidbit: France was originally part of the “Future European Fighter Aircraft” project with Spain, West Germany, Italy and the UK so that all 5 countries could build a 4.5+ Generation Fighter jet together (As Europe tends to do). However, differences between what the partners desired from the Fighter, particularly from France, lead to the French exit from the project
 
France in particular wanted the fighter to be Carrier-capable for the French Navy and their aircraft carrier, which wasn’t something any of the other partners wanted as they either had Harriers for their carriers (UK, Spain, Italy) or didn’t have carriers at all (W. Germany). France went on to build a fighter jet entirely on their own, creating the Dassault Rafale. The 4 other partners eventuakly created the Eurofighter Typhoon
 
So yes, France essentially said “Yeah, well I’ll go build my own fighter jet! With blackjack, and hookers! In fact, forget the jet” to the UK, W. Germany, Italy and Spain.