With the example of a possible high-intensity war in the Taiwan area, the French military will upgrade the Rafale to the F5 standard. The plane will be able to process massive amounts of data to carry out missions while being connected to a whole range of drones operating as wingmen.
For the military, more and more drone prototypes with piloted multirole aircraft are being developed. This is what we call A loyal wingman, “faithful wingman” in French. These drones, interconnected in a network with leading aircraft, serve to multiply, augment the force. SensorsSensors of the plane and project them to keep it out of reach of enemy action.
In the Americans, the XQ-67A from General Atomics or the A loyal wingman Boeing has made its first flights and may come with the F-35 in the future. Europe is also currently counting on this type of drone with its Scafe project. Along with it, the sixth-generation fighter plane will be at the center of an interconnected air combat system based on drones, all of which are doped.AIAI. So it is no longer just a plane, but a global system based on drone wingmen, such as the nEUROn program led by Dassault Aviation. But before this future combat system is operational, supposedly by 2040, we are doing something new with the “old” to get the same or similar result. When he joined the Army in 2002the airthe air And space, Dassault Aviation’s Rafale has evolved significantly over the decades. It is inside the cabin that everything happens and the original aircraft is now a far cry from its newer iterations.
A future war will have to wait
Thus, the latest standard, F4 of which 42 Rafales will be delivered from 2027, includes the Spectra self-defense system, an autonomous digital jammer and a contact radio station, that is, a tactical radio equipped for what we call. Collaborative fighting. But the F5 version of the Rafale will go much further. In addition to carrying a new type of weapon, the device will be equipped with fiber optic cabling for processing, similar in appearance. volumesvolumes Massive data. It will also have AI. This new capability will allow it to communicate in real time with at least one combat drone considered as an extension of it.
Finally, the full range of specialized wingman drones should be considered. Less expensive drones can be used to carry out missions to saturate enemy defenses. Other more expensive heavy drones will not be cost effective and will augment the Rafale’s capabilities. In any case, these developments are intended to lead to high-intensity warfare. And besides Russia, the armies have the eyesthe eyes Focused on tensions in China and Taiwan. To counter the modern equipment and weapon systems available in groupgroup, such a networked air combat system would make it possible to neutralize enemy anti-aircraft defenses and logistics. But it’s not for tomorrow, because these Rafale F5s won’t arrive before 2030. So a future war will have to wait, unless geopolitics accelerates it. MovementMovement.
