France Modernizes Rafale F5 for ASN4G Nuclear Missiles

France will prepare Rafale F5 fighters for the use of new ASN4G nuclear missiles.

The French Ministry of Armed Forces stated that Rafale fighter pilots will also be able to operate stealth combat drones.

The minister also announced the launch of a program of stealth combat drones. They will be controlled directly from the Rafale cockpit.

A new hypersonic nuclear missile for Rafale fighter jets, dubbed ASN4G (Air-Sol Nucléaire 4th Generation), is being developed using “advanced stealth and ultra-high-speed technologies.”

According to the former Minister of the Armed Forces, Jean-Yves Le Drian, on the one hand, “the strategy of breaking through enemy defenses with missiles at hypersonic speeds remains a serious scientific and technological challenge.” At the same time, stealth “requires materials with robust characteristics compatible with the harshness of the environment, as well as mission preparation systems optimized for rapid response and maximum defense penetration.

In 2021, it was reported that a technological solution for the ASN4G project needed to be selected in the near future.

ASN4G

During one of the parliamentary hearings, Hervé de Bonnaventure, an advisor to MBDA’s CEO, revealed more details about the ASN4G project.

He noted that the technological work on this missile began in the 1990s, in parallel with the development of the improved ASMP-A, and this work “was clearly directed towards very high speeds.”

“Since then, we developed the means to test the missile and simulate the flight of the ASN4G at hypersonic speeds,” MBDA’s CEO said at the time.

He also noted that MBDA, together with the French aerospace research center ONERA, has been conducting hypersonic research since 2000 as part of the PROMETHEE program.

In May 2024, the French Air Force tested an upgraded ASMP-A nuclear missile, which was launched from a Rafale fighter jet.

The ASMP-A missile is a modernized version of the ASMP missile based on which it was developed. The maximum range is approximately 500 km, and its payload is a 300-kiloton TNA warhead.