UAE Still in Talks With France on Rafale F5 Fighter and Loyal Wingman Drone Partnership
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The United Arab Emirates is in advanced negotiations with France on a joint partnership for the Rafale F5 fighter and its loyal wingman combat drone, building on the countries’ forty-year airpower relationship. The talks could give Abu Dhabi a direct role in shaping one of Europe’s most ambitious manned unmanned combat programs, with clear implications for Gulf airpower.
As of 18 November 2025, the United Arab Emirates is still in detailed talks with France over a joint partnership for the development of the Dassault Rafale F5 fighter jet and its associated loyal wingman combat drone. The latest intelligence notes and research confirm that Abu Dhabi is negotiating not only future aircraft purchases, but a deeper role as co-financer and industrial partner in the wider Rafale F5 ecosystem.Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
The UAE is still in talks with France to co-develop the Rafale F5 and its loyal wingman drone, aiming for advanced capabilities and industrial co-production (Picture source: Dassault Aviation).
This negotiation sits on top of a long and carefully cultivated Franco-Emirati airpower relationship. Dassault and the UAE have worked together for more than four decades, starting with the Mirage series and culminating in the December 2021 “historic” deal for 80 Rafale F4 fighters, valued at around €17 billion and described as the largest export order in the type’s history. The contract formally entered Dassault’s backlog in April 2022, and the UAE Ministry of Defence inaugurated its first Rafale earlier this year, publicly framing the jet as a symbol of a “deep strategic partnership” with France.
The Rafale F5 standard is intended to take that relationship into the 2030s. French budget papers and industry statements describe F5 as a major leap beyond the current F4.2 configuration now entering operational service, pivoting Rafale from a highly capable multirole fighter into a networked combat node built for collaborative operations with unmanned systems. Former French armed forces minister Sébastien Lecornu has said the modernization to F5 will be “a revolution” for conventional missions and nuclear deterrence, with the aircraft expected to carry the next-generation ASN4G hypersonic missile and operate alongside a new stealth unmanned wingman.
F5 builds on the digital and structural changes of F4.2 with a more powerful sensor and electronic-warfare suite, centered on an evolved RBE2 XG active electronically scanned array radar, expanded SPECTRA electronic support and attack capabilities, and hardened, high-bandwidth datalinks that plug the Rafale into France’s future “combat cloud.” Flight-test activity and industry disclosures indicate that F5 will also feature conformal fuel tanks blended along the upper fuselage, significantly extending range and freeing under-wing hardpoints for weapons while modestly reducing radar signature. French and export operators will be able to combine these upgrades with new air-to-air and air-to-surface munitions, turning Rafale F5 into a true first-night-of-the-war platform for dense air-defense environments.
The defining feature, however, is the loyal wingman unmanned combat aerial vehicle now formally launched as part of the F5 standard. In October 2024, Paris announced the start of a stealth UCAV program that will complement Rafale F5 after 2030, drawing heavily on the earlier nEUROn demonstrator. Publicly available descriptions point to a flying-wing drone with low-observable shaping, an internal weapons bay, advanced autonomous control, and tight data-fusion links to the manned aircraft. In combat, several of these loyal wingmen are expected to fly ahead of the Rafale as remote sensors, electronic-attack platforms, and strike assets, with the pilot acting as mission commander rather than joystick operator.
For the UAE Air Force & Air Defence, that architecture is tailor-made for the threat picture over the Gulf. Iran is investing in longer-range surface-to-air systems such as the Bavar-373 family and ballistic-missile forces designed to hold regional airbases and infrastructure at risk, forcing adversaries to operate further out and accept greater attrition if they rely solely on crewed fighters. Loyal wingman drones give Abu Dhabi a way to generate combat mass, probe and saturate high-end air defenses, and preserve its Rafale fleet for higher-value missions, aligning with the UAE’s doctrinal focus on precision strike and long-range surveillance.
Abu Dhabi’s interest is not just operational, but also industrial. In recent years, the UAE has poured resources into EDGE Group and a fast-maturing unmanned portfolio, including the Reach-S MALE UAV and the Garmoosha rotary-wing drone for ISR and light strike. Related briefings underline that Emirati leaders want the Rafale F5 and loyal wingman story to mesh with this ecosystem: co-financing development, securing workshare on structures, mission systems or ground segments, and building an Emirati role in manned-unmanned teaming rather than simply importing a finished product.
French officials, for their part, signal openness to what Dassault describes as “military and technological sovereignty for customer countries,” but within clear red lines. Critical technologies tied to France’s nuclear deterrent, core radar and electronic-warfare source codes, and certain sensor and datalink architectures will remain under national control, even for trusted Gulf partners. Co-production for the UAE is therefore likely to focus on airframe sections, composite structures, selected avionics modules, and possibly elements of the UCAV’s ground-control and data-link architecture rather than the most sensitive black-box systems. That balance mirrors earlier French export practice while still giving Abu Dhabi genuine industrial value.
From a timeline perspective, France is only now fielding F4.2 while ramping design work on F5; government and industry signals point to F5’s entry into service around the early 2030s, with the loyal wingman following close behind, around 2033. As of November 2025, the UAE remains engaged at this formative stage, including through recent high-level contacts between the UAE Air Force leadership, the French Air and Space Force and Dassault on the drone program. What is still undecided are the precise financial contribution, the scope of technology transfer, and how far Paris is willing to go in formalizing a “Club Rafale” model with an Emirati seat at the table.
Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group.
Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.
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The United Arab Emirates is in advanced negotiations with France on a joint partnership for the Rafale F5 fighter and its loyal wingman combat drone, building on the countries’ forty-year airpower relationship. The talks could give Abu Dhabi a direct role in shaping one of Europe’s most ambitious manned unmanned combat programs, with clear implications for Gulf airpower.
As of 18 November 2025, the United Arab Emirates is still in detailed talks with France over a joint partnership for the development of the Dassault Rafale F5 fighter jet and its associated loyal wingman combat drone. The latest intelligence notes and research confirm that Abu Dhabi is negotiating not only future aircraft purchases, but a deeper role as co-financer and industrial partner in the wider Rafale F5 ecosystem.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
The UAE is still in talks with France to co-develop the Rafale F5 and its loyal wingman drone, aiming for advanced capabilities and industrial co-production (Picture source: Dassault Aviation).
This negotiation sits on top of a long and carefully cultivated Franco-Emirati airpower relationship. Dassault and the UAE have worked together for more than four decades, starting with the Mirage series and culminating in the December 2021 “historic” deal for 80 Rafale F4 fighters, valued at around €17 billion and described as the largest export order in the type’s history. The contract formally entered Dassault’s backlog in April 2022, and the UAE Ministry of Defence inaugurated its first Rafale earlier this year, publicly framing the jet as a symbol of a “deep strategic partnership” with France.
The Rafale F5 standard is intended to take that relationship into the 2030s. French budget papers and industry statements describe F5 as a major leap beyond the current F4.2 configuration now entering operational service, pivoting Rafale from a highly capable multirole fighter into a networked combat node built for collaborative operations with unmanned systems. Former French armed forces minister Sébastien Lecornu has said the modernization to F5 will be “a revolution” for conventional missions and nuclear deterrence, with the aircraft expected to carry the next-generation ASN4G hypersonic missile and operate alongside a new stealth unmanned wingman.
F5 builds on the digital and structural changes of F4.2 with a more powerful sensor and electronic-warfare suite, centered on an evolved RBE2 XG active electronically scanned array radar, expanded SPECTRA electronic support and attack capabilities, and hardened, high-bandwidth datalinks that plug the Rafale into France’s future “combat cloud.” Flight-test activity and industry disclosures indicate that F5 will also feature conformal fuel tanks blended along the upper fuselage, significantly extending range and freeing under-wing hardpoints for weapons while modestly reducing radar signature. French and export operators will be able to combine these upgrades with new air-to-air and air-to-surface munitions, turning Rafale F5 into a true first-night-of-the-war platform for dense air-defense environments.
The defining feature, however, is the loyal wingman unmanned combat aerial vehicle now formally launched as part of the F5 standard. In October 2024, Paris announced the start of a stealth UCAV program that will complement Rafale F5 after 2030, drawing heavily on the earlier nEUROn demonstrator. Publicly available descriptions point to a flying-wing drone with low-observable shaping, an internal weapons bay, advanced autonomous control, and tight data-fusion links to the manned aircraft. In combat, several of these loyal wingmen are expected to fly ahead of the Rafale as remote sensors, electronic-attack platforms, and strike assets, with the pilot acting as mission commander rather than joystick operator.
For the UAE Air Force & Air Defence, that architecture is tailor-made for the threat picture over the Gulf. Iran is investing in longer-range surface-to-air systems such as the Bavar-373 family and ballistic-missile forces designed to hold regional airbases and infrastructure at risk, forcing adversaries to operate further out and accept greater attrition if they rely solely on crewed fighters. Loyal wingman drones give Abu Dhabi a way to generate combat mass, probe and saturate high-end air defenses, and preserve its Rafale fleet for higher-value missions, aligning with the UAE’s doctrinal focus on precision strike and long-range surveillance.
Abu Dhabi’s interest is not just operational, but also industrial. In recent years, the UAE has poured resources into EDGE Group and a fast-maturing unmanned portfolio, including the Reach-S MALE UAV and the Garmoosha rotary-wing drone for ISR and light strike. Related briefings underline that Emirati leaders want the Rafale F5 and loyal wingman story to mesh with this ecosystem: co-financing development, securing workshare on structures, mission systems or ground segments, and building an Emirati role in manned-unmanned teaming rather than simply importing a finished product.
French officials, for their part, signal openness to what Dassault describes as “military and technological sovereignty for customer countries,” but within clear red lines. Critical technologies tied to France’s nuclear deterrent, core radar and electronic-warfare source codes, and certain sensor and datalink architectures will remain under national control, even for trusted Gulf partners. Co-production for the UAE is therefore likely to focus on airframe sections, composite structures, selected avionics modules, and possibly elements of the UCAV’s ground-control and data-link architecture rather than the most sensitive black-box systems. That balance mirrors earlier French export practice while still giving Abu Dhabi genuine industrial value.
From a timeline perspective, France is only now fielding F4.2 while ramping design work on F5; government and industry signals point to F5’s entry into service around the early 2030s, with the loyal wingman following close behind, around 2033. As of November 2025, the UAE remains engaged at this formative stage, including through recent high-level contacts between the UAE Air Force leadership, the French Air and Space Force and Dassault on the drone program. What is still undecided are the precise financial contribution, the scope of technology transfer, and how far Paris is willing to go in formalizing a “Club Rafale” model with an Emirati seat at the table.
Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group.
Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.
