Saint-Cloud, October 8, 2024 – Today, Sébastien Lecornu, Minister of the Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs, announced the launch of the development of the combat drone which will complement the future Rafale F5 standard (post-2030).
This announcement took place during a ceremony celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Strategic Air Forces (FAS), on the Saint-Dizier base, in the presence of General Jérôme Bellanger, Chief of Staff of the Army. of Air and Space (AAE), and Éric Trappier, CEO of Dassault Aviation.
« This stealth combat drone, concomitantly with the Rafale F5, will contribute to the technological and operational superiority of the French wings from 2033. It is not insignificant that it is launched today, while the 60th anniversary of the first operational alert from the FAS and while the 90th anniversary of the AAE was celebrated last June: in aeronautics, a complex field par excellence, the future has deep roots and innovation is based on experience. Dassault Aviation and its partners are proud to serve the Armed Forces and the DGA; their renewed confidence honors and obliges us », declares Éric Trappier.
This drone will be complementary to the Rafale and adapted to collaborative combat. It will incorporate stealth technologies, autonomous control (with humans in the loop), cargo hold technologies, etc. It will have great versatility and be designed to be able to evolve according to future threats.
It will benefit from the achievements of the nEUROn* program, the first European technological demonstrator of a stealth combat drone.
The Rafale F5 and combat drone pairing, with their future developments, must ensure France, like the Mirage IV in its time, its independence and superior capacity for the coming decades.
* Initiated in 2003, the nEUROn program brought together the aeronautical resources of six European countries, under the project management of Dassault Aviation. The first flight took place in December 2012. More than 170 test flights have been carried out to date. The nEUROn program has kept all its promises in terms of performance, deadline and budget.
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