UK RAF Typhoons Join French Nuclear Exercise for First Time, Escorting Rafale Strike Jets

Royal Air Force (RAF) Eurofighter Typhoons escorted French Air and Space Force Rafale B fighters through a simulated nuclear strike over the Mediterranean on October 20-21, 2026, the first time British aircraft have flown in an exercise of France’s airborne nuclear component. Exercise Rummy, disclosed by London and Paris on October 23, involved no nuclear weapons, according to the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD).

The drill is the most concrete operational step yet under the Northwood Declaration, signed by President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Keir Starmer on July 10, 2025, which holds that the two deterrents remain independent but can be coordinated. The declaration created a UK-France Nuclear Steering Group, whose members observed a French Operation Poker nuclear raid at its first meeting on December 10, 2025. Ten months later, British crews moved from observers to participants.

Rafale Strike, Typhoon Escort: Inside the French Nuclear Exercise

Rafale B two-seaters of the 4th Fighter Wing (4e Escadre de chasse) launched from Saint-Dizier-Robinson Air Base (BA 113) in northeastern France on the evening of October 20, according to the French Ministry of the Armed Forces. Rafale, Typhoon and Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) crews took part, with the French jets flying the simulated strike and the RAF fighters providing escort. France’s Strategic Air Forces (Forces aériennes stratégiques, FAS), which operate the airborne leg of the French deterrent, ran the drill.

Neither government has disclosed the number of aircraft, the RAF squadron or its departure base, whether RAF Voyager tankers flew alongside French A330 MRTT Phénix tankers, or the simulated threat picture.

The structure follows Poker, the FAS raid exercise France has run four times a year since its airborne deterrent first went on alert in 1964. The March 2026 edition mobilized about 40 aircraft against a red force of fighters and real or emulated air defenses.

For the RAF, the role is purely conventional. The Typhoon FGR4 is not nuclear-certified. Publicly available specifications indicate its two Eurojet EJ200 turbofans each produce roughly 60 kN dry and 90 kN with reheat, and its counter-air loadout centers on the MBDA Meteor ramjet-powered beyond-visual-range missile, the AIM-120 AMRAAM and the ASRAAM. That combination gives a strike package the air-superiority cover it needs to reach its release point.

Rafale B and ASMPA-R: The Airborne Deterrent the Typhoons Protected

The aircraft at the center of Rummy carry the MBDA Air-Sol Moyenne Portée Amélioré Rénové (ASMPA-R), France’s air-launched nuclear missile, which entered FAS service in 2023 and reached the French Navy’s Nuclear Naval Air Force (FANu) on November 10, 2025. Open-source estimates credit the ramjet-powered weapon with a speed near Mach 3 and a range of about 600 kilometers, up from roughly 500 kilometers for the ASMP-A it replaces. Its airborne nuclear warhead (TNA) has a publicly reported yield of up to 300 kilotons; Paris does not confirm these figures.

At Saint-Dizier, Fighter Squadrons 1/4 Gascogne and 2/4 La Fayette fly the Rafale B in the nuclear role. Publicly available data indicate its two Safran M88-2 engines each deliver about 50 kN dry and 75 kN with reheat, while the Thales RBE2 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar and the SPECTRA self-protection suite support the low-altitude penetration the mission depends on.

A stand-off missile reduces, but does not remove, the launch aircraft’s exposure. Long-range air defenses such as Russia’s S-400, which Poker red forces emulate, push launch points deeper into contested airspace, and allied escorts add air-to-air capacity the FAS would otherwise draw from its own Rafale fleet. The hypersonic ASN4G successor is due around 2035 on the Rafale F5.

How the Northwood Declaration Shapes UK-France Nuclear Coordination

The Northwood text restates a principle first set out in 1995: neither country sees a situation in which the vital interests of one could be threatened without those of the other. It pairs that with strict sovereignty. Both governments stressed that each retains independent nuclear forces and national decision-making, and the joint communiqué said they would consider nuclear use only in extreme circumstances of self-defense.

“Having independent nuclear forces does not exclude coordination,” said Catherine Vautrin, France’s Minister of the Armed Forces and Veterans. UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting called the drill “a new chapter in the defence nuclear relationship” between the two countries.

London is investing £63 billion over four years in its deterrent, covering Dreadnought-class ballistic missile submarines, SSN-AUKUS attack submarines and a new warhead. It will also buy 12 F-35A fighters to join NATO’s nuclear mission, restoring an RAF air-delivered nuclear role absent since the WE.177 bomb was retired in 1998. Rummy ran while NATO’s Steadfast Noon 2026 exercise, which began in Italy on October 13, was under way.

Paris, meanwhile, is widening its circle. In a March 2, 2026, speech at the Île Longue submarine base, Macron introduced forward deterrence (dissuasion avancée), offering European partners conventional participation in French nuclear activities while ruling out any sharing of the final decision. Two Rafale B and two Luftwaffe Eurofighters flew a joint refueling sortie on July 16, and Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced that German forces would join a French nuclear exercise before the end of 2026.

Analysis: Rummy matters less for what the Typhoons did than for the model it validates. The RAF escort mirrors NATO’s SNOWCAT (Support of Nuclear Operations With Conventional Air Tactics) concept, in which non-nuclear allies support the alliance’s dual-capable aircraft mission, but applies it to a French national strike mission run outside NATO’s Nuclear Planning Group, where France does not sit. Britain’s role also differs from Germany’s: as Europe’s other nuclear power, it is the only partner whose own deterrent can be coordinated with France’s, giving Rummy weight beyond the escort itself.

Neither capital has said whether Rummy will recur or whether British crews will join future Poker raids. The next markers include follow-on work by the Nuclear Steering Group, the delivery and certification timeline for RAF F-35As, which the MoD has not detailed, and the planned late-2026 launch of Rafale F5 development.