A Rafale M was spotted with a pod for 68 mm laser-guided rockets, first unveiled at the Paris Air Show 2025 as a cost-effective solution against drones and asymmetric threats.
A French Navy (Marine Nationale) Rafale M was spotted with at least one Thales 68 mm rocket pod installed under its port (left-side) wing. The photo would confirm that the French military has finally put in motion a long reported plan to give the jet a cost-effective capability against Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and asymmetric threats.
The image was first posted by Jean-Luc Cardey on Facebook on Apr. 16, 2026, and was later shared on X by defense aviation page ‘Bruno_Aviation’. Other French users subsequently claimed the image may have been captured at Istres-Le Tubé Air Base (Base Aérienne 125/BA 125), which is also home to the Directorate General of Armaments’ (Direction Générale de l’Armement – DGA) flight test center.
The jet is the Rafale M ‘1’, the first production aircraft, which is used for experimental and development purposes. ‘Bruno_Aviation’ identified the system as the Thales JF12 pod, with a capacity of 12 68 mm rockets, for a total of 24 rockets if two pods are carried in a symmetric loadout.
The TALIOS targeting pod can also be seen installed under the starboard (right-side) engine inlet, used for target acquisition, tracking and lasing. The Counter-UAS (C-UAS) capability on the French Rafales follows the current trend of U.S. jets like the F-15E, F-16, A-10s and the Royal Air Force’s (RAF) Eurofighter Typhoons which are similarly using laser-guided Advanced Kill Precision Weapon System II (APKWS II) rockets for anti-drone missions.
This development also comes amid both official and unofficial videos, emerged over the last week, showing French Rafales and Tiger attack helicopters intercepting Iranian One-Way Attack (OWA) drones. The aircraft used their MICA IR short-range air-to-air missiles (AAM) and chin-mounted 30 mm cannon, respectively, to engage the targets.
FINALLY !
A French Rafale seen taking off from Istres air base with a rocket pod under its wing, most probably in order to test a low cost solution for drone hunting mission.
📸 via @Bruno_Aviation https://t.co/uYvZRFwwuS pic.twitter.com/U61V9d4gCD
— Etienne Marcuz (@Etienne_Marcuz) April 16, 2026
Rocket pods on the Rafale
In his post on X, ‘bruno aviation’ said: “A Rafale equipped with laser-guided rockets spotted at Istres. The tests have finally begun. Here a Thalès JF12 pod, so 24 68mm rockets in total. Another string to the Rafale’s bow, the hunt for the Shahed is OPEN!”
However, upon further research, it appears the pod’s actual designation is the TELSON 12 JF rocket pod, developed by TDA Armements, a subsidiary of Thales. Thales had displayed the system at the June 2025 edition of the Paris Air Show, saying it is meant to fire the 68 mm Aculeus-LG laser-guided rocket.
Head of the DGA, Patrick Pailloux, told the National Assembly yesterday that integrating rockets onto the Rafale for the C-UAS role is now ongoing and will be ready for operational fielding “this summer”. @JanesINTEL story from myself and @JakOSpades to come… https://t.co/V4DTHM2jkd
— Gareth Jennings (@GarethJennings3) April 16, 2026
Janes, capturing an image of the rocket pod, quoted an unmanned official from the French Directorate General of Armaments (Direction Générale de l’Armement – DGA): “We absolutely have to start using rockets for the counter-UAS mission, because we cannot keep using our high-value missiles in this role.” Journalist Gareth Jennings also said on X on Apr. 16, 2026, that the DGA chief Patrick Pailloux told the National Assembly about the ongoing tests of C-UAS rockets on the Rafales, aiming to field them operationally by this summer.
In a March 2015 promotional video, TDA Armements said that its guided rockets are induction-activated, making them safer and preventing use as improvised explosive devices (IED) by non-state actors. The systems have already been used by French forces in Mali and Afghanistan.
The Aculeus LG is a “sub-metric precision” rocket that “follows a ballistic trajectory for much of its flight until it receives a course correction order from the aircraft.” The company explains that, “after the ignition phase, which lasts about one second, the rocket flies for a few seconds and then corrects its course and guides itself onto the laser illuminated target.”
Each Aculeus LG rocket costs between $25,000 to $40,000, roughly in the same range of Iranian Shahed-type OWAs, which fall in the $20,000-50,000 range. MBDA’s MICA IR and MICA RF missiles meanwhile are worth not less than $1 million apiece.
French Dassault Rafale fighter jet intercepting an Iranian Shahed/Geran-type long-range strike drone with an air-to-air missile (presumably MICA-EM/IR) over Erbil Governorate in northern Iraq this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/lbM2xJ2TBb
— Status-6 (War & Military News) (@Archer83Able) April 14, 2026
Tiger attack helicopters and Rafales shoot down Shahed drones
A video on Apr. 14, 2026, captured from the ground, showed a MICA missile fired from a Rafale at a short range shooting down an Iranian OWA drone. Both the drone and the jet can be easily identified, with OSINT accounts determining the location as the Erbil region in Iraq.
📍 Proche et Moyen-Orient | Retour sur les engagements des moyens 🇫🇷 face aux menaces aériennes
💥 Protection des intérêts français dans la zone et application des accords de défense
🎯 Les armées 🇫🇷 maintiennent une posture défensive active, en coordination étroite avec… pic.twitter.com/jk8OZbLEPm
— Armée française – Opérations militaires (@EtatMajorFR) April 10, 2026
Prior to that, the French Joint Staff released on Apr. 10 footage from the Heads-Up Display (HUD) and the TALIOS pod of the Rafale, and from the Electro-Optical (EO) system of the Tiger attack helicopters showing several interceptions of Iranian OWA drones being shot down by either gunfire or Within Visual Range (WVR) missile engagements.