France’s Archange Electronic Warfare Aircraft Makes First Flight
On July 25 the French MoD announced its upcoming intelligence gathering aircraft, the Archange, had made its first flight out of Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport. The Archange is based on a Dassault 8X business jet which has been modified to incorporate the advanced CUGE (Universal Electronic Warfare Capability) system developed by Thales Group. This system allows the aircraft to collect, identify, and geolocate radio communications and radar signals to assist in strike planning. The French Air Force expects to take delivery of 3 Archange by 2030 and intends to base them out of Évreux Air Base.
Previously the signals intelligence role was performed by France’s C-160G Gabriel aircraft, however, these were retired in 2022. The retirement was 3 years ahead of schedule which proved to be unfortunate timing with the invasion of Ukraine demanding as much signal’s intelligence as possible. Dassault and Thales were first awarded a contract to deliver Archange in 2019, however, delivery wasn’t expected until 2026 at the earliest. In the meantime France operates ASTAC Tactical Signals Analyzer pods on their Mirage 2000Ds to conduct intel gathering over the Baltic states and Black Sea. However, these pods are not able to offer the strategic capabilities of a larger aircraft like Archange or Gabriel. To compensate for this capability gap France leased a Saab 340 equipped with signals gathering equipment beginning in 2024.
Archange is the latest in an increasing trend of turning business jets into military intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) systems. Notably France chose Saab’s GlobalEye airborne early warning aircraft to replace the dramatically larger Boeing E-3F. These aircraft are based on the Bombardier Global 6000 instead of the Dassault 8X which will limit the commonality between the two aircraft. The GlobalEye system will also be able to provide a signals intelligence capability though limited compared to what the CUGE system can provide.
Recently Italy also selected a business jet derived electronic warfare aircraft by committing to buy two EA-37Bs which entered service with the US Air Force last year. Unlike the GlobalEye or Archange these aircraft are based on the Gulfstream G550, highlighting the diversity of the business jet industry.