France has cleared the Rafale for using 68 mm laser guided rockets within the Counter-UAS function, following trials launched in February 2026.
France has permitted using 68 mm laser-guided rockets and the TALIOS focusing on pod on the Rafale towards low-cost One-Method Assault (OWA) drones, following the conclusion of a prolonged testing marketing campaign on Jul. 7, 2026. The milestone was talked about in stories on Jul. 13 quoting the Directorate Basic of Armaments (Path Générale de l’Armement – DGA).
The trials underway since February 2026 concerned the DGA’s Flight Check Middle in Cazaux, the French Air and House Pressure’s (FASF) Navy Air Experience Middle (CEAM), Dassault and Thales – the maker of the 12-round JF12 pod that fires the Aculeus LG laser-guided rocket. In April 2026, a French Navy (Marine Nationale) Rafale M was photographed with a minimum of one JF12/TELSON 12 rocket pod, probably at Istres-Le Tubé Air Base (Base Aérienne 125).
The testing adopted stories from June 2025 quoting DGA officers, who pressured the necessity to begin utilizing rockets for the counter-UAS function to keep away from “utilizing their high-value property.” DGA chief Patrick Pailloux, a 12 months later, advised the Nationwide Meeting in regards to the ongoing exams of C-UAS rockets on the Rafales, aiming to discipline them operationally by this summer time.
🚀 La roquette guidée laser sur #Rafale, c’est validé !
La DICOD confirme l’arrivée de la capacité LADAC (Lutte Anti-Drone sur Avion de Fight). En quelques mois, la DGA et le CEAM ont intégré la roquette de 68mm through la nacelle TALIOS.
🎯 La chasse aux drones Shahed est ouverte pic.twitter.com/oheVbHkVpb
— bruno aviation (@Bruno_Aviation) July 13, 2026
In response to Mer et Marine, the system, referred to as the Anti-Drone Warfare on Fight Plane (Lutte anti-drone sur avion de fight – LADAC) and developed for the Rafale, has reached an Preliminary Operational Functionality (IOC). A bigger order to Thales would observe quickly, with deliveries starting in July 2026 however particulars like the price aren’t but identified.
Pressing requirement, fast testing and fielding
To satisfy an pressing “operational emergency” and discipline an “efficient and cost-effective anti-drone weapon as rapidly as attainable,” the DGA narrowed down its alternative on Thales and the 68mm LGR in late 2025, because it was an obtainable weapon that had already been built-in onto France’s Tiger assault helicopters. This was after the U.S. and Israeli expertise combating Iran, the Houthis, the place the Individuals had additionally rapidly adopted APKWS II-armed F-15Es, F-16s and A-10s.
Just a few days earlier than the Rafale M was noticed at Istres with the rocket pod, official movies confirmed FASF Rafales participating OWA drones over Iraq with the MICA IR short-range air-to-air missile. The price of the missile is within the $1-2 million vary, whereas the Iranian drones are underneath $50,000.
Every Aculeus LG rocket prices between $25,000 and $40,000, roughly in the identical vary of Iranian Shahed-type OWAs. This is able to make the economics of the C-UAS mission extra balanced.
FINALLY !
A French Rafale seen taking off from Istres air base with a rocket pod underneath its wing, most likely with the intention to check a low value answer for drone searching mission.
📸 through @Bruno_Aviation pic.twitter.com/U61V9d4gCD
— Etienne Marcuz (@Etienne_Marcuz) April 16, 2026
The exams of the DGA and FASF demonstrated all the chain of participating loitering munitions with bigger fighters. The exams included drone detection by the radar Rafale’s RBE2 AESA radar, monitoring and laser designation, the analysis of the influence of the rocket pods on the airframe and flight traits, and at last firing the rockets in air-to-air mode. The report didn’t say what number of flights and goal drone engagements occurred.
The trials occurred on the DGA Missile Check web site at Bicarosse and the DGA Aerospace Strategies in Balma, with EOS Applied sciences offering lots of the goal drones. At Balma, personnel assessed whether or not the pods perform in an electromagnetic jamming heavy surroundings. DGA Land Strategies in Bourges and DGA Engineering and Initiatives in Paris validated the general efficiency of the LADAC system.
Head of the DGA, Patrick Pailloux, advised the Nationwide Meeting yesterday that integrating rockets onto the Rafale for the C-UAS function is now ongoing and shall be prepared for operational fielding “this summer time”. @JanesINTEL story from myself and @JakOSpades to come back…
— Gareth Jennings (@GarethJennings3) April 16, 2026
In October 2025, the FASF’s chief Gen. Jérôme Bellanger spoke in a parliamentary listening to about the necessity to approve both the Mirage 2000D RMV or the Rafale with rockets for the C-UAS function, Opex360 reported. “Concerning airborne anti-drone operations, it isn’t sustainable to make use of MICA air-to-air missiles costing over 1,000,000 euros to shoot down a drone price a couple of thousand {dollars}. […] There are off-the-shelf options, laser rockets that would very effectively be put in underneath Mirage 2000s or Rafales,” Bellanger stated.
This was as a result of, on the peak of Operation Epic Fury towards Iran, French Rafales working from UAE’s Al Dhafra air base “dwindled” their stockpile of MICA missiles “too rapidly,” La Tribune reported on Mar. 15, 2026, quoting unidentified French army and diplomatic officers.
French Dassault Rafale fighter jet intercepting an Iranian Shahed/Geran-type long-range strike drone with an air-to-air missile (presumably MICA-EM/IR) over Erbil Governorate in northern Iraq this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/lbM2xJ2TBb
— Standing-6 (Conflict & Navy Information) (@Archer83Able) April 14, 2026
Rafale coordinates with EW drone
Dassault Aviation additionally introduced on Jul. 13, 2026 “the completion in flight of a simulated collaborative engagement between a Rafale F4 and a drone carrying a NAMIB payload.” NAMIB is a brand new digital warfare product collectively developed by Dassault and Harmattan AI.
Leveraging the F4’s natural networking, information linking and sensor fusion capabilities “with all kinds of actors, together with floor forces,” the trial flight demonstrated NAMIB discreetly and precisely finding a radar tens of kilometers away. “This location was transmitted to the Rafale fighter jet, which then simulated a firing move on the goal,” the discharge stated.
NAMIB, le nouveau produit de guerre électronique embarqué développé par Harmattan AI et Dassault Aviation, réalise un vol collaboratif avec un Rafale pic.twitter.com/YT6Q78A0Sr
— Dassault Aviation (@Dassault_OnAir) July 13, 2026
NAMIB is an digital warfare payload able to detecting, figuring out, and finding electromagnetic emissions, significantly these from air protection programs. It may be deployed on tactical drones, corresponding to quadcopters, or fixed-wing drones with longer endurance.
