France has put a date on its first robot wingman. In 2028 the Französische Luft- und Raumfahrtstreitkräfte plans to fly a Rafale together with an uncrewed collaborative combat aircraft, a so-called loyal wingman, in a first crewed-uncrewed test flight.
The plan was laid out at a briefing in Paris this week by the Air Force, the DGA armament agency and Amiad, the French ministry's agency for defence artificial intelligence. The umbrella project has a suitably Gallic name: Hypairion.
Its real subject is not a drone at all. It is who owns the brains of French combat aircraft.
Kurzinfo
- Projekt: Hypairion (French Air and Space Force, DGA, Amiad)
- First crewed-uncrewed flight: Planned for 2028, with a Rafale
- AI testbeds: Two Mirage 2000s being modified at Mont-de-Marsan; Aviation Week reports they are Mirage 2000Ds
- Wingman requirement (DGA, June RFI): Up to 500 kg payload, combat radius over 1,000 km, speed above Mach 0.8, per Aviation Week
- Rafale F5: First version targeted for 2033, per Defense News; CCA capability expected in the late 2030s, per Aviation Week
- Angekündigt: Briefing in Paris, reported 2 October 2026
Two old Mirages become flying laboratories
The hardware side of Hypairion starts with two Mirage 2000 fighters at Mont-de-Marsan, home of the Air Force's fighter test and evaluation squadron. Aviation Week reports that the pair are Mirage 2000Ds and that the conversion work starts at the end of 2026.
They will carry the artificial intelligence that France wants to test before it goes anywhere near a frontline jet: algorithms to help detect targets, assist the pilot and eventually work with uncrewed aircraft.
Dassault has already flown two sovereign AI algorithms on a Rafale, in September 2026, according to Aviation Week. An AI function for the Thales Talios targeting pod is expected in 2027.
Open, modular, French-owned
The officers who briefed the press, identified only by rank and first name as is French military practice, were blunt about the goal. They want open, modular avionics that the state controls, rather than closed systems in which a manufacturer holds the keys to every sensor and weapon.
That matters for the Rafale F5, the next major upgrade of France's fighter, which Defense News says is targeted for a first version in 2033. A government-owned architecture means new AI functions, new sensors and new drones can be added without renegotiating the whole aircraft each time.
Col. Thibault, deputy director of Amiad, put the sovereignty point even more directly: the aim is for the French state to retain control of the overall architecture.
What the wingman must do
The DGA issued a request for information in June for the uncrewed aircraft itself. According to Aviation Week, it asks for a multirole platform able to carry up to 500 kg, with a combat radius of more than 1,000 km and a speed above Mach 0.8.
The 2028 flight will be a test of the concept rather than the final wingman. Toulouse start-up Aura Aero has said it aims to fly a CCA demonstrator the same year. France also has history here: Dassault flew its nEUROn stealth drone demonstrator in formation with a Rafale and a Falcon 7X business jet in March 2014, as the video below shows.
France is not alone. The US Air Force is already flying its first collaborative combat aircraft prototypes, and several European manufacturers have unveiled their own designs. What sets the French approach apart is how loudly it insists that the code, not just the airframe, has to be French.
Sources: Defense News, Aviation Week, Business Standard, Dassault Aviation
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