Sébastien Lecornu, France’s Minister of Armies and War Veterans recently revealed that the country’s main combat aircraft, the Dassault Rafale will be upgraded to the upcoming F5 Standard beginning in the year 2030. The announcement which took place on October 8th as the Minister visited the Saint Dizier 113 Airbase celebrating the country’s Strategic Air Forces 60th anniversary.
This announcement confirms that France intends to keep improving its Rafale multirole fighter aircraft with technology that will keep it relevant on the battlefield well into the 2050s. To date, the country has ordered 234 aircraft that have been distributed to the Air and Space Forces and also the Navy which operates 24 aircraft deployed aboard the Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier.
Once introduced in the year 2030, the F5 Standard will supersede the current F4.1 Standard. The F4.1 Standard, part of the baseline F4 Standard family deploys the most advanced operational capabilities yet available for the Rafale. It only recently achieved Initial Operating Capabilities with Rafales based at Mont De Marsan Airbase 118 conducting their first alert sorties in February 2024.
The Rafale evolution has been confirmed by the continuous capabilities enhancement incremented throughout the various configurations since the aircraft first entered service in 2000 with the French Navy and in 2005 with the French Air Force. While the initial Naval Rafale M variant configured under the F1 Standard received only basic air-to-air capabilities, the Air Force first three aircraft introduced air-to-air along with air-to-ground capabilities of the F2 Standard. This included the availability of the SCALP air-to-ground missile.
Throughout the years, maturing F3 Standard capabilities were integrated into the platform under the F3, F3-2, F3-3, F3-4+ and finally F3-R Standards that compounded into the commercial success that the aircraft enjoys today. These Standards translated notably into the introduction of the Damocles targeting pod under the F3-2 Standard, the Link 16 information sharing capabilities in the F3-3 Standard, the introduction of the Active Electronically Scanned Array antenna as an upgrade to the aircraft RBE2 main radar on the F3-4+ and finally, the ability to fire the long range Meteor air-to-air missile and the introduction of the Talios pod on the F3-R Standard. The export market was keen to respond favorably to an aircraft that made available such advanced capabilities, increasingly in high demand. In addition to the 234 aircraft ordered by the French Air and Space Forces and Navy, throughout the year, foreign orders were able to accumulate substantially. The customers list has included:
- Egypt, for a total of 55 Rafales,
- India, for 36 Rafales,
- Qatar, for 36 Rafales,
- Greece, for 12 ex-French aircraft and 12 new-built Rafales,
- Croatia, for 12 ex-French Rafales,
- the United Arab Emirates, for 80 Standard F4 Rafales,
- Indonesia, for 42 Rafales,
- Serbia, for 12 Rafales.
Building on the F4.1 Standard
The current F4.1 Standard improves on the baseline F4 Standard which recently began operational service. The first operational alert flown by a F4.1 Standard Rafale took place on february 16th 2024 with a Mont-de-Marsan 118 Air Base aircraft assigned to the 30th fighter squadron. For on French and United Arab Emirates Rafales who are to benefit mostly from the F4 Standard, the main improvement is derived from the increased computing power gained by the Main Data Processing Unit (MDPU). The improved on board computer is able to interpret, correlate, process and transmit in seemingly real time an even more massive amount of data acquired from the RBE2-AESA electronic scanning radar, the “Front Sector Optronic” (FSO) system, the SPECTRA electronic warfare system, the IFF, the MICA infrared seekers.
The aircraft Front Sector Optronics has been supplemented by a new Infra Red Search and Track (IRST) sensor improving day and night passive target detection and identification capabilities against low signature aircraft through the infrared spectrum at longer range. The RBE2 AESA radar introduces new Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Ground Mobile Target Indication and Tracking (GMTI/T) modes enhancing image resolution and detection of ground target also at longer range. The new Thales SCORPION® helmet-mounted display has been introduced along with larger side cockpit displays in order to give the pilot even better battlefield situational awareness for faster reaction. The F4.1 HAMMER family of modular bombs has also been integrated onto the platform.
Yet the F4.1 Standard is expected to receive further upgrades including:
- the MICA NG (New Generation) air-to-air missile.
- a communication server, a Satcom satellite link and new software radios of the CONTACT (Communications numériques tactiques et de théâtre, digital tactical and theater-wide radio communications) family.
- a new digital jammer for the SPECTRA self-defence / electronic warfare suite.
The F5 Standard
While building on the F4.1 Standard whose fully configured features have yet to reach maturity in the coming months, the F5 Standard nevertheless will introduces a leap forward in strategic capabilities for the year 2030. The introduction of an Unmanned Combat Aircraft Vehicle that will be piloted from a Rafale will rely on the Dassault NeuroN demonstrator concept which has been in development since 2003. Operating as a loyal wingmen, the fully stealthy NeuroN-derived UCAV will operate ahead of the accompanying Rafale “mothership” and enter high threat combat zones first in order to gather and transmit real time targeting intelligence to the Rafale. Accompanied by the NeuroN, Rafale pilots may be able to more accurately prioritize and engage target from safer stand-off range.
The F5 Standard will also allow the Rafale to carry France’s newer strategic nuclear capable missile designated ASN4G. Still under development, the ASN4G represents France’s next generation strategic deterrent capabilies whose lethality can be measured by its ability to penetrate the most dangerous threat environment. General Stéphane VIREM, the Commanding Officer of the (Strategic Air Force) FAS has indicated that the ASN4G “will be a highlymanoeuvrable, hyper-velocity missile, i.e. hypersonic – with a speed in excess of Mach 5. It will be highly capable of delivering nuclear fire at a distance unmatched today, and of penetrating the densest, most developed adversary..”. Together with the Rafale F5 and NeuroN combination, the ASN4G will arm France with a robust strategic deterrent.
It must be noted that the F5 Standard as recently introduced represents only capabilities that will be introduced. The announcements pertaining to its development have yet to specify the technologies and the functionalities that will need to be integrated onto the aircraft in order to make it F5 Standard-ready. It is clear however that capabilities such as Link 16 already introduced during the F3 Standard implementtion will be key to implementing the F5 Standard. The same can be said of the improved Main Data Processing Unit which is likely to receive further upgrades thanks to its modular architecture. The introduction of the CONTACT communication server suite whose deployment is expected as part of the F4.1 Standard implementation is also likely to play a key role in integrating the NeuroN and ASN4G systems capabilities.
