French companies Dassault Aviation and Harmattan AI announced on July 13 the first successful test of joint combat operation between a Rafale F4-standard fighter and a drone equipped with the new NAMIB electronic intelligence system. This is the first publicly confirmed instance of a Rafale engaging a real target acquired from a drone.
According to the companies’ joint press release, the drone carrying the NAMIB payload covertly detected and geolocated a simulated enemy radar station with high precision at a range of several tens of kilometers. The target coordinates were transmitted to the Rafale F4 pilot, who then carried out a simulated missile strike.
NAMIB is a modular electronic warfare payload capable of detecting, identifying, and geolocating electromagnetic emissions, primarily from air defense and missile defense systems.
The concept is for an inexpensive, expendable drone to take on the riskiest part of the mission — approaching enemy air defense zones to detect radars — while the manned Rafale remains out of range of most weapon systems and strikes using ready-made coordinates.
In 2028–2029, Ukraine is set to receive its first 16 Rafale fighters. The exact standard of these aircraft has not yet been specified: it is possible they may be used F3R variants, which could subsequently be upgraded to F4 and later to F5.
