France qualifies Rafale’s Talios targeting pod for upgraded Mirage 2000D

France’s defense procurement agency, the Direction générale de l’armement (DGA), has qualified the Thales Talios targeting pod on the French Air and Space Force’s Mirage 2000D RMV fighter-bombers. 

The DGA announced the milestone in a LinkedIn post on September 16, 2026, without specifying when it granted the qualification. Talios succeeds the older Damocles pod on the aircraft. The DGA credited its DGA Essais en vol flight test center and Thales for the work. 

Talios (Targeting Long-range Identification Optronic System) was first developed for the Rafale. It entered service with the Rafale F3-R standard, which the DGA qualified on October 31, 2018. 

The DGA said its DGA ‘Ingénierie et projets’ center oversaw the pod’s development and integration, including architecture design and trials on a Mirage 2000 test aircraft, ahead of deployment on the Rafale and then the Mirage 2000D RMV.  

The agency said close cooperation with Thales throughout development kept the cost of the Mirage integration limited, but it did not disclose a figure. 

What Talios brings to the Mirage 2000D RMV 

Talios pod mounted on a Dassault Rafale. (Credit: DGA)

According to the DGA, the pod gives the Mirage 2000D RMV improved target coordinate extraction, a higher-resolution near-infrared day channel, and an integrated air-to-ground data link. The agency also cites improved detection, recognition, and identification in the infrared channel. 

Other listed additions include moving-target tracking, better interoperability with ground stations, an enhanced user interface, and an air-to-air mode. 

On the Rafale, the DGA has already put the pod’s air-to-air functions to use. On July 7, 2026, it completed integration trials of 68-millimeter laser-guided rockets for counter-drone missions, in which the Rafale’s radar detects a drone and the Talios pod tracks and laser-designates it, according to the DGA. 

Qualification follows completion of Mirage 2000D RMV upgrade program 

The 50th and final Mirage 2000D RMV was delivered to the French Air and Space Force on June 16, 2026. Launched in 2015, the RMV (rénovation à mi-vie, or mid-life upgrade) program covered 50 aircraft for the service and two test aircraft for DGA Essais en vol. 

The upgrade added a 30-millimeter gun pod, replaced Magic II missiles with MICA IR, and opened the aircraft’s mission system to software developed in part by the French Air and Space Force. The post France qualifies Rafale’s Talios targeting pod for upgraded Mirage 2000D appeared first on AeroTime.

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