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Stealth combat drone to complement future Rafale F5 standard
On Oct. 8, 2024 Sébastien Lecornu, French Minister of the Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs, announced the development launch of the unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) that will complement the future Rafale F5 standard after 2030.
The announcement was made at a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the French Strategic Air Forces (FAS) at the Saint-Dizier air base, in the presence of General Jérôme Bellanger, Chief of Staff of the French Air and Space Force (AAE), and Éric Trappier, Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation.
“This stealth combat drone will contribute to the technological and operational superiority of the French Air Force by 2033. It is significant that it is being initiated today, as we mark the 60th anniversary of the Strategic Air Forces and the 90th anniversary of the Air and Space Force: in aeronautics — a highly complex field — the future has deep roots, and innovation is built on experience. Dassault Aviation and its partners are proud to serve the French Armed Forces and the French Defense Procurement Agency (DGA). Their renewed confidence honours and obliges us,” declared Éric Trappier in a Dassault press release.
Benefitting from the achievements of the nEUROn program
This UAV will be complementary to the Rafale and suited to collaborative combat. It will incorporate stealth technologies, autonomous control (with man-in-the-loop), internal payload capacity, and more. This UAV will be highly versatile and designed to evolve in line with future threats.
It will benefit from the achievements of the nEUROn program, Europe’s first stealth UCAV demonstrator.
Initiated in 2003, the nEUROn program brought together the aeronautics resources of six European countries, with project management by Dassault Aviation. nEUROn completed its maiden flight in December 2012. More than 170 test flights have been conducted to date. The nEUROn program has lived up to all its promises in terms of performance levels, lead times and budget.
Rafale F5
The Rafale F5 combined with the UCAV and their evolutions, like the Mirage IV in its times, will ensure France’s independence and capability superiority in the coming decades.
Besides having a loyal wingman capability, the Rafale F5 will have more processing power.
Most importantly, a new key capability is being introduced, namely, the suppression of enemy anti-aircraft defenses (SEAD).
Meta Defense reported that it was admitted that it was now necessary to equip the Rafale in its future versions with the ability to suppress enemy anti-aircraft defenses, also known as SEAD.
The report said the French decision could partly be based on Ukraine’s air warfare in the ongoing conflict, demonstrating the threat that modern anti-aircraft systems pose today for those who intend to achieve air superiority.
According to Meta Defense the SEAD capabilities will be based on the development of new anti-radiation air-to-ground munitions capable of raising a radar beam to destroy anti-aircraft systems and their transmitter. These will be combined with as powerful jammers that will allow a Rafale to protect not only itself but also other allied aircraft operating in the area with inefficient electronic warfare system.
As reported by The EurAsian Times, the Rafale F5 (dubbed Super Rafale) has been around since 2021. Frédéric Parisot, Vice Chief of the French Air and Space Force, said to French magazine Zone Militaire: “Dassault Aviation is set to bring an F5 standard of the existing aircraft, “endowed with an impressive number of capabilities.”
“At the start of the 2030s, the F5 standard will allow us to further improve the Rafale’s first entry capacity, with new sensors and armaments, but also capacities to communicate, collaborate and be interoperable,” the report noted.
Photo credit: A. Pecchi / Dassault Aviation
