After the super success of its previous Rafale fighter jets in the export market, Dassault Aviation is working on the F5 variant of the aircraft, which will have more powerful engines, a massive loyal wingman, and will be equipped with a nuclear-armed hypersonic missile, among other things.
Dassault Aviation’s chief executive Officer, Eric Trappier, reportedly revealed the planned features of the Rafale F5 to FlightGlobal. The Rafale F5 variant, also called the ‘Super Rafale,’ is currently under development and is regarded as the most advanced variant of the aircraft conceptualized to date.
Trappier expressed optimism that the French government would award him a development contract for the F5 work. Induction into service is anticipated by 2030.
Trappier said that the “F5 variant of Rafale will have more powerful engines, improved survivability and data links, and will be accompanied by an unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) weighing more than 10t.”
Since the beginning, the Rafale F5 has been envisioned as an aircraft that will fly along with a loyal wingman drone in a manned-unmanned teaming format. It will gain from the successes of Europe’s first stealth UCAV demonstration, the nEUROn program. However, Tappier added that the drone would be more than twice as large as the NEURon.
“We will go to more than double that to carry weapons and get a certain range. It’s going to be a big one.” The stealthy loyal wingman drone will incorporate features like internal payload capacity and autonomous control (with man-in-the-loop capability), among other state-of-the-art technologies. The unmanned aircraft will be extremely adaptable and built to adapt to novel combat threats, as previously explained by the EurAsian Times.
Earlier, the French Ministry of Armed Forces said that the combat drone “will allow it to act with discretion as an extension of the Rafale F5 to produce decisive network effects” and that “with these characteristics,” this device “should be a cornerstone of processing modern medium and long-range anti-aircraft systems.”
In addition to the loyal wingman drone, Trappier stated that the F5 will carry the ASN4G munition, a nuclear-armed scramjet-powered hypersonic missile being developed by MBDA for French nuclear deterrence. Though there is not much information about ASN4G in the public domain, it is expected to replace the ASMP supersonic nuclear stand-off missile currently carried by the Rafale in French service.
While the French military will choose the precise specifications for the F5 upgrade, Trappier stated that “connectivity will be important for the nuclear mission.”
He also posited that the Rafale F5 would have stealth features but stopped short of specifying whether it would be a single- or twin-engine aircraft.
Safran Aircraft Engines has started a development program to boost the thrust of the M88 power plant. Known as Project T-Rex, enhancements to the engine’s hot section will enable thrust to be increased above the present maximum of 11,240 lb (50 kN) without requiring the engine to be larger. Although Trappier did not specify the precise amount of thrust needed, he does state that it is “a little bit more than we had in mind before.”
It is pertinent to mention that keeping the engine the same size will eliminate the need to alter the Rafale’s fundamental design. Trappier said, “It is possible to increase a little bit the size of the Rafale but it is not the way we are looking at [F5] today.”
Super Rafale F5 Variant
The concept of Rafale F-5 first garnered media attention as early as 2021. For instance, French magazine Zone Militaire quoted Frédéric Parisot, Vice Chief of the French Air and Space Force, saying: “Dassault Aviation is set to bring an F5 standard of the existing aircraft, endowed with an impressive number of capabilities.”
The report added, “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.”
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Earlier, there were conjectures that Rafale was developing the F5 variant due to the stalemate with partners Germany and Spain over its next-generation Future Combat Air System (FCAS). However, since the FCAS was salvaged and is progressing well, the F5 is seen as more like an intermediary between the existing Rafale models and the future FCAS next-generation aircraft because France does not have a fifth-generation aircraft in service.
The Rafale F5 upgrade is a precursor to the Next Generation Fighter, which is part of the FCAS. Preliminary research for the F5 aircraft kicked off in 2023, and according to reports, full-scale development is expected to happen between 2026 and 2027.
It is believed that the Rafale F5 is likely being considered as a sensor, data fusion, and processing tactical flying command post. This is similar to the capabilities of the F-35, which has pioneering and nearly unparalleled sensor fusion technology. General Stéphane Mille, the AAE’s head of staff, earlier stated that one distinguishing characteristic of the new French aircraft will be the ability to process “huge volumes of data,” which will necessitate fiber optic cabling that previous versions “are not capable of supporting.”
The Ministry of Armed Forces tabled an amendment in May 2023 to provide more information about the Rafale program’s upcoming efforts. It stated that two new capabilities were to be introduced to the Rafale F5: a loyal wingman drone (as discussed above) and the suppression of enemy anti-aircraft defenses (SEAD). 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.
At the time, reports said the SEAD capabilities will likely 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, as well as powerful jammers that will allow a Rafale to protect not only itself but also other allied aircraft operating in the area.
The aircraft is anticipated to be more advanced than the current SPECTRA EW and jamming system, which includes radar jamming, ECCM, infrared, and radar decoys. It will also be surrounded by a defensive bubble.
Though most details remain classified, Eric Trapper’s conversation proves that the F5 variant of the aircraft would be different from the F4 and F3 variants, representing an enormous technological advancement for the French Air and Space Forces. It remains to be seen whether some technology developed as part of the next-generation FCAS could also be integrated into the F5, as predicted by experts.
The development of the Super Rafale comes amid the massive success of the French Rafale in the export market. In addition to the French Air Force, the aircraft has been acquired by the air forces of eight countries. India, for one, is expected to sign a deal for the maritime variant of the aircraft shortly.
Some aviation experts and Indian Air Force veterans have suggested that India should consider acquiring or co-developing the Rafale F5 variant as it faces a growing capability gap with China. They suggest that the IAF could use the F5 Rafale variant as a stopgap solution until its own fifth-generation AMCA is ready for induction by the 2030s.
“If the IAF were to acquire 114 Rafale as a one-time import measure, all these could be made in India. India could choose to have the F5 variant, which will have many traits of the fifth-generation fighter,” said Air Marshal Anil Chopra, IAF veteran and a regular contributor to the EurAsian Times.
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