{ "archive_path": "archive/1789164458.660079", "base_url": "www.twz.com/air/france-accelerates-rafale-f5-upgrade-after-collapse-of-fcas-next-gen-fighter-project", "basename": "france-accelerates-rafale-f5-upgrade-after-collapse-of-fcas-next-gen-fighter-project", "bookmarked_date": "2026-09-11 22:07", "canonical": { "archive_org_path": "https://web.archive.org/web/www.twz.com/air/france-accelerates-rafale-f5-upgrade-after-collapse-of-fcas-next-gen-fighter-project", "dom_path": "output.html", "favicon_path": "favicon.ico", "git_path": "git/", "google_favicon_path": "https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=www.twz.com", "headers_path": "headers.json", "htmltotext_path": "htmltotext.txt", "index_path": "index.html", "media_path": "media/", "mercury_path": "mercury/content.html", "pdf_path": "output.pdf", "readability_path": "readability/content.html", "screenshot_path": "screenshot.png", "singlefile_path": "singlefile.html", "warc_path": "warc/", "wget_path": "www.twz.com/air/france-accelerates-rafale-f5-upgrade-after-collapse-of-fcas-next-gen-fighter-project.html" }, "domain": "www.twz.com", "extension": "", "hash": "1JG4J2Q5NP58XAD5CNBD", "history": { "archive_org": [], "dom": [], "favicon": [ { "cmd": [ "curl", "--silent", "--location", "--compressed", "--max-time", "120", "--output", "favicon.ico", "--user-agent", "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) curl/curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=www.twz.com" ], "cmd_version": "curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "end_ts": "2026-09-12T01:28:29.528062+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "favicon.ico", "pwd": "/data/archive/1789164458.660079", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-09-12T01:28:29.124583+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "git": [], "headers": [ { "cmd": [ "curl", "--silent", "--location", "--compressed", "--head", "--max-time", "120", "--user-agent", "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) curl/curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "https://www.twz.com/air/france-accelerates-rafale-f5-upgrade-after-collapse-of-fcas-next-gen-fighter-project" ], "cmd_version": "curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "end_ts": "2026-09-12T01:28:30.620332+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "headers.json", "pwd": "/data/archive/1789164458.660079", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-09-12T01:28:29.537364+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "htmltotext": [], "media": [], "mercury": [ { "cmd": [ "/app/node_modules/@postlight/parser/cli.js", "https://www.twz.com/air/france-accelerates-rafale-f5-upgrade-after-collapse-of-fcas-next-gen-fighter-project" ], "cmd_version": "1.0.0", "end_ts": "2026-09-12T01:29:06.363896+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "mercury", "pwd": "/data/archive/1789164458.660079", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-09-12T01:29:02.938178+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "pdf": [], "readability": [ { "cmd": [ "/app/node_modules/readability-extractor/readability-extractor", "/tmp/tmp89_vbsh2", "https://www.twz.com/air/france-accelerates-rafale-f5-upgrade-after-collapse-of-fcas-next-gen-fighter-project" ], "cmd_version": "0.0.11", "end_ts": "2026-09-12T01:29:02.923117+00:00", "index_texts": [ "France is accelerating work on the Rafale F5 standard, bringing forward development of a major new configuration of its combat aircraft at a time when the country\u2019s planned next-generation fighter with Germany has effectively collapsed in its original form. The contracts cover the equipment judged to have the highest technical risk, ahead of the overall development contract for the F5 standard, expected for the end of this year.\n\n\n\nThe French defense procurement agency, the Direction g\u00e9n\u00e9rale de l\u2019armement (DGA), ordered the first upstream development work for F5 from Dassault Aviation, Thales, MBDA, and Safran. The contracts cover key areas including navigation, datalinks, radar, electronic warfare, and propulsion, laying the groundwork for the next configuration of the Rafale, which is planned to enter service with the French Air and Space Force and the French Navy starting around 2033.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n#Commande | Rafale F5La DGA commande les 1ers travaux en amont du prochain lancement en r\u00e9alisation du standard F5 du RafaleIls concernent notamment :\u27a1\ufe0fla centrale inertielle\u27a1\ufe0fle moteur\u27a1\ufe0fle radar\u27a1\ufe0fla suite d\u2019autoprotection de l\u2019avion\u2935\ufe0f pic.twitter.com/n3uhBYqIvi\u2014 Direction g\u00e9n\u00e9rale de l'armement \ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddf7 (@DGA) September 9, 2026\n\n\n\n\n\nThe most extensive modernization of the Rafale yet, the F5 standard was originally part of a longer transition toward France\u2019s next-generation combat-air capability. But with the Franco-German New Generation Fighter (NGF) effort now effectively dead in its original configuration, the accelerated F5 program is taking on a much larger strategic role.\n\n\n\nConcept artwork of the NGF future fighter.\u00a0Dassault Aviation \n\n\n\nRather than simply keeping the Rafale relevant until NGF arrives, France is now developing a version of the aircraft that is set to carry much of the country\u2019s high-end combat-air capability well into the 2030s and potentially beyond.\n\n\n\nThe increasingly capable F5 could, in turn, reduce the urgency of finding a replacement for the Rafale \u2014 while potentially adding to the fighter\u2019s export appeal. After a slow start, Dassault has recorded export sales of 299 new-build Rafales to eight nations.\n\n\n\nThe DGA\u2019s contracts engage four of France\u2019s principal combat-aircraft industrial players. Dassault Aviation remains responsible for the aircraft and its overall integration; Thales is involved in major sensor, electronic warfare, and communications capabilities; MBDA is responsible for much of the weapons system; and Safran is responsible for propulsion.\n\n\n\nThe Rafale assembly line at the Dassault Aviation facility in M\u00e9rignac, France. Dassault Aviation \u2013 V. Almansa ALMANSA\n\n\n\nPrevious Rafale standards have largely consisted of incremental upgrades, focusing on software and other improvements to the existing aircraft configuration. F5 is notably more extensive, addressing many of the critical systems that determine how the aircraft senses the battlespace, communicates with other platforms, conducts electronic warfare, and generates the power needed to operate increasingly demanding equipment.\n\n\n\nThe DGA has specifically identified the Thales RBE2-XG radar as one of the major technological advances associated with F5.\n\n\n\nThe RBE2-XG is expected to feature gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductors. Compared with previous technology, GaN generates less heat and has the capacity to operate at higher voltages, meaning that output power can be increased, while component size can be reduced. Overall, using GaN should help to get more power out of the radar without increasing its size.\n\n\n\nAccording to the DGA, \u201cThis new radar will benefit from a substantial increase in power, and consequently in detection range, as well as improvements in the identification of targets with an extremely low radar cross-section (RCS). Its computing capabilities will also be enhanced to facilitate the integration of artificial intelligence.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe RBE2-XG will also be \u201cdesigned with collaborative combat in mind, featuring sensors capable of working together without the need for pilot intervention.\u201d It is also planned to have enhanced resilience, including against cyber threats.\n\n\n\nFrance is already working on the concept of a combat drone to accompany the Rafale, with the future F5 standard providing the crewed aircraft around which those systems can operate.\n\n\n\nA Rafale during a test mission with a Dassault nEUROn combat drone demonstrator.\u00a0Dassault Aviation \u2013 A. Pecchi \n\n\n\nThe new radar will be combined with more capable electronic warfare equipment, improved communications and datalinks, expanded processing capacity, and a more capable propulsion system.\n\n\n\nTo be developed by MBDA and Thales, the forthcoming F5 version of the SPECTRA self-protection suite is intended to significantly improve detection and jamming capabilities, the DGA says, \u201cthrough a fully digital approach, enabling a complete overhaul of the core electronic warfare system to counter the increasing density and broadening of the threat spectrum, as well as the growing complexity of threat waveforms, expected by 2035.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\tThales \u00e0 bord du Rafale de Dassault Aviation\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\nThales will also be responsible for the new Inter-Vehicle Data\u00a0Link (IVDL) system, described as a \u201cstealthy and resilient datalink.\u201d The DGA says the new datalink will expand connectivity \u201cthanks to a new high-speed, discreet, and jamming-resistant waveform. IVDL will allow the Rafale to penetrate hostile areas where jammers are widespread, while maintaining optimal quality of communication and dialogue between aircraft.\u201d\n\n\n\nSafran will begin preliminary design work on the M88 T-Rex engine, which is planned to increase the turbofan\u2019s thrust from around 16,500 pounds to nearly 19,850 pounds, an increase of roughly 20 percent.\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\tM88 T-REX: A 9-ton thrust predator serving the Rafale\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\nIn terms of armament, the contract announcement mentions the ASN4G missile, set to be introduced to service by 2035, which will allow the Rafale F5 to continue to serve as the airborne nuclear component. The munition remains in the early stages of development, but it will be capable of hypersonic speeds \u2014 defined as speeds greater than Mach 5 \u2014 with a range in excess of 1,000 kilometers (621 miles).\n\n\n\nOther likely new missiles include a beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile to succeed the current Meteor. As you can read about here, France\u2019s Comet program, apparently led by the French side of MBDA, is already looking into this requirement, with an apparent plan to introduce the weapon around 2030.\n\n\n\nAn older video from MBDA showing some of the company\u2019s weapons integrated on earlier versions of the Rafale:\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\tPARIS AIR SHOW 2021: MISSILES ON THE RAFALE\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\nFor France, the original logic behind the pan-European FCAS program was that Rafale would eventually give way to the NGF as its principal crewed combat aircraft, operating from land bases and aircraft carriers.\n\n\n\nWith the collapse of the Franco-German effort, France cannot simply wait for a next-generation fighter program whose industrial and political future is uncertain. Instead, the Rafale has to remain capable against rapidly evolving threats throughout the 2030s and beyond.\n\n\n\nWith the F5 standard, however, France is looking to incorporate some of the concepts envisaged for NGF. These include distributed architectures in which crewed fighters, uncrewed aircraft, remote carriers, missiles, and offboard sensors cooperate across a battlespace.\n\n\n\nThe nEUROn drone and a Rafale M in flight over the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, during tests to investigate the use of a UCAV in a naval context. Dassault Aviation \u2013 A. Pecchi \n\n\n\nA highly upgraded Rafale operating as the crewed controller of uncrewed combat aircraft and remote weapons could perform some of the missions that France originally expected from NGF.\n\n\n\nFor now, F5 also sidesteps the central problem in the now-defunct Franco-German effort: whether the two countries could agree on the requirements, industrial structure, and workshare behind a new-generation combat aircraft.\n\n\n\nDespite its advances, the F5 airframe remains derived from a design dating back to the 1980s, which first entered French service in the early 2000s. In particular, it falls well short of fifth-generation designs \u2014 let alone sixth-generation ones \u2014 in terms of low observability. This is one area where collaborative drones could potentially help compensate for the Rafale\u2019s inherent limitations.\n\n\n\nThe current standard F4 Rafale with a full weapons load. Dassault Aviation \u2013 C. Cosmao \u00a9 Dassault Aviation \u2013 C. Cosmao / \u00a9 Dassault Aviation \u2013 C. Cosmao\n\n\n\nFrance has therefore bought itself some time with the F5 program. But it may eventually decide that it needs a future high-end crewed fighter to provide capabilities that an upgraded fourth-generation airframe cannot fully replicate, particularly in terms of survivability against advanced integrated air-defense systems, signature reduction, internal weapons carriage, and operations deep inside heavily contested airspace.\n\n\n\nOn an industrial level, F5 is also significant because it brings together the same French industrial heavyweights that would have formed the backbone of its FCAS effort. Dassault Aviation, Thales, Safran, and MBDA are now well-positioned to work together on whatever comes after F5, whether that is a crewed combat aircraft, uncrewed CCA-type platforms, or a combination of both. Based on its experience with the nEUROn program, France would be well placed to develop a UCAV that can work cooperatively as well as independently, taking over the deeper-penetrating fighter mission set, and potentially skipping a sixth-generation fighter altogether.\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\nMeanwhile, success with F5 \u2014 and, in particular, with the wider combat ecosystem planned around it \u2014 could put France in an even stronger position when it comes to any future European fighter project.\n\n\n\nFor the time being, Britain, Italy, and Japan are pursuing the GCAP/Tempest pathway toward a new combat aircraft. Germany and Spain remain tied to the wider FCAS architecture, even as the original Franco-German NGF arrangement has fractured. Sweden\u2019s position is less clear, with indications that it could collaborate with either France or Germany.\n\n\n\nFrance, for its part, is now investing heavily in an increasingly sophisticated Rafale architecture while maintaining its own sovereign industrial base.\n\n\n\nIn terms of acqusition, France is expected to pursue a mixed approach, buying new-build Rafales while upgrading suitable aircraft already in service to the F5 standard. The oldest jets are unlikely to receive the full F5 treatment, however.\n\n\n\nThe irony is that the failure of the NGF effort may ultimately make Rafale F5 more important \u2014 and potentially more capable \u2014 than it was ever expected to be.\n\n\n\nContact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com" ], "output": "readability", "pwd": "/data/archive/1789164458.660079", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-09-12T01:29:00.502840+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "screenshot": [], "singlefile": [], "title": [ { "cmd": [ "curl", "--silent", "--location", "--compressed", "--max-time", "120", "--user-agent", "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) curl/curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "https://www.twz.com/air/france-accelerates-rafale-f5-upgrade-after-collapse-of-fcas-next-gen-fighter-project" ], "cmd_version": "curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "end_ts": "2026-09-12T01:29:00.495149+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "France Accelerates Rafale F5 Upgrade After Collapse Of FCAS Next-Gen Fighter Project", "pwd": "/data/archive/1789164458.660079", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-09-12T01:29:00.445560+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "wget": [ { "cmd": [ "wget", "--no-verbose", "--adjust-extension", "--convert-links", "--force-directories", "--backup-converted", "--span-hosts", "--no-parent", "-e", "robots=off", "--timeout=120", "--restrict-file-names=windows", "--warc-file=/data/archive/1789164458.660079/warc/1789176510", "--page-requisites", "--user-agent=Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) wget/GNU Wget 1.21.3", "--compression=auto", "https://www.twz.com/air/france-accelerates-rafale-f5-upgrade-after-collapse-of-fcas-next-gen-fighter-project" ], "cmd_version": "GNU Wget 1.21.3", "end_ts": "2026-09-12T01:29:00.435976+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "www.twz.com/air/france-accelerates-rafale-f5-upgrade-after-collapse-of-fcas-next-gen-fighter-project.html", "pwd": "/data/archive/1789164458.660079", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-09-12T01:28:30.630822+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ] }, "icons": null, "is_archived": true, "is_static": false, "latest": { "archive_org": null, "dom": null, "favicon": "favicon.ico", "git": null, "media": null, "pdf": null, "screenshot": null, "singlefile": null, "title": "France Accelerates Rafale F5 Upgrade After Collapse Of FCAS Next-Gen Fighter Project", "warc": null, "wget": "www.twz.com/air/france-accelerates-rafale-f5-upgrade-after-collapse-of-fcas-next-gen-fighter-project.html" }, "link_dir": "/data/archive/1789164458.660079", "newest_archive_date": "2026-09-12T01:29:02.938178+00:00", "num_failures": 0, "num_outputs": 6, "oldest_archive_date": "2026-09-12T01:28:29.124583+00:00", "path": "/air/france-accelerates-rafale-f5-upgrade-after-collapse-of-fcas-next-gen-fighter-project", "schema": "Link", "scheme": "https", "snapshot_id": "08137b6f-18ac-4bc8-a907-9f08ff4ded59", "sources": [ "/data/sources/1789164458-import.txt" ], "tags": ",escalation,war-wiki,pool", "tags_str": "escalation,war-wiki,pool", "timestamp": "1789164458.660079", "title": "France Accelerates Rafale F5 Upgrade After Collapse Of FCAS Next-Gen Fighter Project", "updated": "2026-09-12T01:28:29.124405+00:00", "updated_date": "2026-09-12 01:28", "url": "https://www.twz.com/air/france-accelerates-rafale-f5-upgrade-after-collapse-of-fcas-next-gen-fighter-project" }