France clears Talios pod for Mirage 2000D RMV fleet

France's defense procurement agency has qualified the Thales Talios targeting pod for the French Air and Space Force's Mirage 2000D RMV fighter-bombers. The Direction générale de l'armement announced the milestone in a LinkedIn post dated September 16, 2026. It did not say when the qualification was granted.

The pod replaces the Damocles system on the aircraft. The agency credited its DGA Essais en vol flight test centre and Thales for the work. Its Ingénierie et projets centre managed development and integration, including architecture work and trials on a Mirage 2000 test aircraft before the pod was fielded on the Rafale and then the Mirage 2000D RMV.

Talios, short for Targeting Long-range Identification Optronic System, was originally developed for the Rafale. It entered service with the F3-R standard, which the DGA qualified on October 31, 2018.

According to the agency, the pod brings the Mirage 2000D RMV upgraded target coordinate generation, a sharper near-infrared day channel and a built-in air-to-ground data link. It also lists sharper infrared detection, recognition and identification, moving-target tracking, better links with ground stations, a revised user interface and an air-to-air mode.

The DGA said cooperation with Thales during development kept the cost of fitting the pod to the Mirage low. It gave no figure.

Air-to-air functions have already been used on the Rafale. On July 7, 2026, the agency completed integration trials of 68-millimetre laser-guided rockets for counter-drone work, according to the DGA. In that setup, the Rafale's radar finds a drone and the Talios pod tracks and laser-designates it.