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Rafale B374 Delivered to DGA as Flying Lab for the F5 Standard

France's DGA has taken delivery of the Rafale B374, a test aircraft that will never fly combat missions but will be used to prepare the future Rafale F5.

A Rafale test aircraft on the ground at a French flight test centre, fitted for use as a flying laboratory.
Image: Numerama
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France's defence procurement agency, the DGA, has taken delivery of its first Rafale test bed aircraft, the B374. The agency announced the handover on Monday, 2 November, saying the jet has been delivered to its DGA Essais en vol flight test centre. It will never go on an operational mission. Its job is to serve as a flying laboratory for the future Rafale F5 standard.

The B374 will replace the Rafale B348, which the French Air and Space Force has lent to the DGA on a long-term basis. Once the new aircraft is in service, the DGA can return the B348. The B374 came straight off the Dassault Aviation production line. It is the 73rd and last aircraft of the fourth production batch, ordered in 2021, and it is delivered to the F4.1 standard, the version currently in service.

From F4 testing to F5 preparation

A test bed aircraft is heavily modified. It carries measurement equipment, data recorders and a data link to the teams following tests on the ground. Its purpose is to check in flight that a radar, a weapon or a piece of software works as intended before it is installed on squadron aircraft.

For now, the B374 will receive a removable test and measurement installation to support development of the current F4 standard, which has several steps (F4.1, F4.2, F4.3). Around the second quarter of 2027, Dassault will take the aircraft back for a major transformation that adds the interfaces needed for full, permanent flight instrumentation. The jet should rejoin the test fleet in 2028.

At that point its onboard computer will run a test-only "orange" software version, used to host the future F5 sensors. The DGA specifically cites the RBE2 XG radar, still in development. The Rafale currently uses the RBE2 AESA radar, in series production since 2012.

Why it matters

The F5 is expected to be a major step for the aircraft. Air and Space Force chief of staff General Jérôme Bellanger called it a "technological rupture" in a 2025 parliamentary hearing. It is also meant to operate alongside combat drones and to include AI functions. Dassault Aviation CEO Éric Trappier said in late August that the company is targeting entry into service between 2033 and 2035.

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Tags:rafaledgadassault aviationrafale f5fighter jetdefense

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