Dassault flight-tests AI crew-support tools on Rafale

Dassault Aviation has flight-tested a Rafale carrying two new artificial intelligence functions meant to assist the aircraft's human crew, the company announced on September 22, 2026. The work forms part of broader efforts to bring AI into the fighter's cockpit and could feed into future upgrades.

One of the two algorithms was developed in-house by Dassault engineers, according to the company. The other was produced with Thales and cortAIx. Dassault called them sovereign AI algorithms and said both had reached a maturity level that makes them eligible for later Rafale upgrades.

Dassault described the activity as in-flight testing but gave no details of the test configuration or the specific tasks the algorithms carried out. It said it now has the availability and quality of operational data needed to address several key challenges specific to military aviation.

The stated purpose of the cockpit AI is to support the crew and potentially lower the pilot's cognitive workload, leaving more room to focus on tactical decisions. Dassault did not say which functions the AI would perform.

The tests come as France pushes ahead with development of the Rafale F5 standard, following the award of initial technology-development contracts by the DGA earlier in September.