A Rafale M was noticed with a pod for 68 mm laser-guided rockets, first unveiled on the Paris Air Present 2025 as an economical resolution towards drones and uneven threats.
A French Navy (Marine Nationale) Rafale M was noticed with no less than one Thales 68 mm rocket pod put in beneath its port (left-side) wing. The photograph would verify that the French army has lastly put in movement a protracted reported plan to present the jet an economical functionality towards Unmanned Aerial Methods (UAS) and uneven threats.
The picture was first posted by Jean-Luc Cardey on Fb on Apr. 16, 2026, and was later shared on X by protection aviation web page ‘Bruno_Aviation’. Different French customers subsequently claimed the picture could have been captured at Istres-Le Tubé Air Base (Base Aérienne 125/BA 125), which can also be dwelling to the Directorate Normal of Armaments’ (Course Générale de l’Armement – DGA) flight check middle.
The jet is the Rafale M ‘1’, the primary manufacturing plane, which is used for experimental and growth functions. ‘Bruno_Aviation’ recognized the system because the Thales JF12 pod, with a capability of 12 68 mm rockets, for a complete of 24 rockets if two pods are carried in a symmetric loadout.
The TALIOS focusing on pod will also be seen put in beneath the starboard (right-side) engine inlet, used for goal acquisition, monitoring and lasing. The Counter-UAS (C-UAS) functionality on the French Rafales follows the present pattern of U.S. jets just like the F-15E, F-16, A-10s and the Royal Air Power’s (RAF) Eurofighter Typhoons that are equally utilizing laser-guided Superior Kill Precision Weapon System II (APKWS II) rockets for anti-drone missions.
This growth additionally comes amid each official and unofficial movies, emerged over the past week, exhibiting French Rafales and Tiger assault helicopters intercepting Iranian One-Manner Assault (OWA) drones. The plane used their MICA IR short-range air-to-air missiles (AAM) and chin-mounted 30 mm cannon, respectively, to interact the targets.
FINALLY !
A French Rafale seen taking off from Istres air base with a rocket pod beneath its wing, most likely with a purpose to check a low value resolution for drone looking mission.
📸 through @Bruno_Aviation pic.twitter.com/U61V9d4gCD
— Etienne Marcuz (@Etienne_Marcuz) April 16, 2026
Rocket pods on the Rafale
In his publish on X, ‘bruno aviation’ mentioned: “A Rafale outfitted with laser-guided rockets noticed at Istres. The checks have lastly begun. Right here a Thalès JF12 pod, so 24 68mm rockets in whole. One other string to the Rafale’s bow, the hunt for the Shahed is OPEN!”
Nonetheless, upon additional analysis, it seems the pod’s precise designation is the TELSON 12 JF rocket pod, developed by TDA Armements, a subsidiary of Thales. Thales had displayed the system on the June 2025 version of the Paris Air Present, saying it’s meant to fireplace the 68 mm Aculeus-LG laser-guided rocket.
Head of the DGA, Patrick Pailloux, informed the Nationwide Meeting yesterday that integrating rockets onto the Rafale for the C-UAS position is now ongoing and will likely be prepared for operational fielding “this summer time”. @JanesINTEL story from myself and @JakOSpades to come back…
— Gareth Jennings (@GarethJennings3) April 16, 2026
Janes, capturing a picture of the rocket pod, quoted an unmanned official from the French Directorate Normal of Armaments (Course Générale de l’Armement – DGA): “We completely have to begin utilizing rockets for the counter-UAS mission, as a result of we can not preserve utilizing our high-value missiles on this position.” Journalist Gareth Jennings additionally mentioned on X on Apr. 16, 2026, that the DGA chief Patrick Pailloux informed the Nationwide Meeting concerning the ongoing checks of C-UAS rockets on the Rafales, aiming to discipline them operationally by this summer time.
In a March 2015 promotional video, TDA Armements mentioned that its guided rockets are induction-activated, making them safer and stopping use as improvised explosive gadgets (IED) by non-state actors. The techniques have already been utilized by French forces in Mali and Afghanistan.
The Aculeus LG is a “sub-metric precision” rocket that “follows a ballistic trajectory for a lot of its flight till it receives a course correction order from the plane.” The corporate explains that, “after the ignition part, which lasts about one second, the rocket flies for a couple of seconds after which corrects its course and guides itself onto the laser illuminated goal.”
Every Aculeus LG rocket prices between $25,000 to $40,000, roughly in the identical vary of Iranian Shahed-type OWAs, which fall within the $20,000-50,000 vary. MBDA’s MICA IR and MICA RF missiles in the meantime are price not lower than $1 million apiece.
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 (Battle & Army Information) (@Archer83Able) April 14, 2026
Tiger assault helicopters and Rafales shoot down Shahed drones
A video on Apr. 14, 2026, captured from the bottom, confirmed a MICA missile fired from a Rafale at a brief vary capturing down an Iranian OWA drone. Each the drone and the jet may be simply recognized, with OSINT accounts figuring out the placement because the Erbil area in Iraq.
📍 Proche et Moyen-Orient | Retour sur les engagements des moyens 🇫🇷 face aux menaces aériennes
💥 Safety des intérêts français dans la zone et utility des accords de défense
🎯 Les armées 🇫🇷 maintiennent une posture défensive lively, en coordination étroite avec… pic.twitter.com/jk8OZbLEPm
— Armée française – Opérations militaires (@EtatMajorFR) April 10, 2026
Previous to that, the French Joint Workers launched on Apr. 10 footage from the Heads-Up Show (HUD) and the TALIOS pod of the Rafale, and from the Electro-Optical (EO) system of the Tiger assault helicopters exhibiting a number of interceptions of Iranian OWA drones being shot down by both gunfire or Inside Visible Vary (WVR) missile engagements.
