Rafale F4 Debuts Electronic Warfare Payload for Radar Detection
The test flight showed radar-detection and electronic warfare capabilities as Harmattan AI and Dassault Aviation advanced mission-ready systems for contested environments.
- On Monday, July 13, 2026, Dassault Aviation and Harmattan AI completed a collaborative flight test pairing a Rafale F4 fighter with an unmanned aircraft carrying the NAMIB electronic warfare payload.
- Launched in January 2026, the strategic partnership between the companies aims to integrate autonomous systems into combat operations; NAMIB identifies hostile radar installations and relays precise coordinates to the Rafale.
- Operators can deploy smaller autonomous systems closer to threats, reducing risks to crewed aircraft; the fighter then simulates an engagement against the radar site using the relayed data.
- Dassault Chairman and CEO Eric Trappier said the test demonstrated the Rafale F4's ability to support a "High-low mix" of advanced aircraft and autonomous expendable systems within a broader multi-domain force.
- Harmattan AI Co-Founder and CEO Mouad Ghari said the collaboration "accelerates the integration of disruptive technologies" to lay groundwork for "collaborative combat architectures of tomorrow" that field new capabilities faster.
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Ukraine kills Russian radars with drones, then strikes through gap. France flew both in one package on jet Ukraine gets in 2028
A French Rafale flew a drone that went hunting for an air-defense radar. Dassault Aviation and Harmattan AI said in a 13 July press release that a Rafale F4 conducted its first joint operation with a drone carrying NAMIB, a new electronic reconnaissance system built to find enemy air defenses, according to Defense Express. Ukraine is due to receive its first 16 Rafales in 2028-2029, and anything that could improve the aircraft against Russian ai…
Military aviation makes a qualitative leap after the success of joint tests between manned fighters and autonomous systems
Rafale F4 debuts electronic warfare payload for radar detection
Dassault Aviation has completed a flight test that paired its Rafale F4 fighter with an unmanned aircraft carrying a compact electronic warfare payload, demonstrating a new way to detect and locate hostile radar systems before a strike. The demonstration involved NAMIB, an electronic warfare system developed with French startup Harmattan AI. During the exercise, the drone identified a radar installation from several dozen kilometers away, calcul…
Dassault Aviation and Harmattan AI have announced the success of a cooperation activity in flight, cd. teaming, between a bomber fighter Rafale F4 and an air system without pilot equipped with the useful load NAMIB, a new electronic war device developed jointly by the two companies....
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