By August 2026, electronic warfare is moving beyond traditional fighter aircraft—and NAMIB shows how.
Dassault Aviation and Harmattan AI have demonstrated NAMIB. This new electronic-warfare payload enables small, unmanned aircraft to detect and locate hostile radar emissions, then share that data with a manned combat aircraft. In July 2026, NAMIB completed a collaborative flight demonstration with a Rafale F4.
The test points to a future in which unmanned systems move closer to enemy air defences, gather electromagnetic intelligence, and help keep high-end fighters farther from danger.
What is NAMIB?
NAMIB is an electronic-warfare payload developed by Dassault Aviation and Harmattan AI. It is designed to detect, identify, and geolocate electromagnetic emissions, especially those associated with air-defence systems.
NAMIB is described as a payload, not a dedicated aircraft, so it can be fitted to different unmanned platforms, including quadcopters and longer-endurance fixed-wing drones.
This flexibility allows compact EW sensors to be spread across multiple unmanned systems instead of relying on a single specialised aircraft.
From radar detection to a simulated strike
During the July demonstration, a NAMIB-equipped unmanned aircraft detected and located a radar several dozen kilometres away, then sent its position to the Rafale F4.
The Rafale then carried out a simulated attack. No live strike took place; the purpose was to show that the unmanned system and fighter could operate as a team.
The basic operational sequence is significant:
detect → identify → locate → transmit → engage.
In a conventional mission, the fighter might perform much of this work itself. NAMIB shifts the sensing role to an unmanned platform while keeping the Rafale connected to the wider combat network.
Why electronic warfare matters
Modern air defences depend on the electromagnetic spectrum. Radars, communications systems, and sensors emit signals that can reveal the location of military equipment.
Electronic warfare seeks to exploit, protect or disrupt this use of the spectrum.
For aircraft entering defended airspace, knowing where an air-defence radar is located can be as important as locating a weapon target. Once found, commanders can avoid, suppress, jam, or attack it.
That makes NAMIB relevant to suppression or destruction of enemy air defences (SEAD/DEAD) missions. Jane's reported that the demonstration supports broader efforts to enhance the Rafale's role in such operations.
Putting the unmanned system closer to the threat
A key idea behind NAMIB is separating sensing from striking.
A Rafale is an expensive, high-performance aircraft with a pilot aboard. A drone carrying an EW sensor can operate closer to danger without placing a pilot there.
Harmattan AI focuses on autonomous systems that can operate at scale, while Dassault highlights the value of pairing advanced combat aircraft with autonomous, potentially expendable systems.
This is sometimes described as a “high-low mix”: sophisticated, manned platforms such as Rafale working alongside numerous lower-cost autonomous systems.
The advantage is not simply cost. It is also mass.
A force could deploy multiple unmanned sensors across a wide area, creating a distributed EW network instead of relying on one aircraft to locate every threat.
Autonomy is the other half of the equation.
NAMIB also reflects a wider Dassault-Harmattan AI partnership focused on autonomy for future air-combat systems.
Development began in January 2026, only months before the successful flight demonstration.
The rapid development timeline reflects the growing defence-industry interest in combining artificial intelligence, autonomy, and unmanned aircraft.
Public information does not include detailed specifications for NAMIB's sensors, processing architecture, frequency coverage, weight, power use, maximum detection range, or classification algorithms.
What has been shown is narrower but important: NAMIB detected and located a radar at several dozen kilometres and sent its position to a Rafale.
A distributed approach to electronic warfare
Traditional EW platforms are often sophisticated and expensive. NAMIB suggests another model: distributing electronic sensing across autonomous aircraft.
One drone could search for radar emissions, another could conduct reconnaissance, and a manned fighter could remain farther away while coordinating the engagement.
Such a network could make it harder for an adversary to understand exactly where the main threat is coming from.
It could also create dilemmas for air-defence operators. Destroying an unmanned sensor may reveal the defensive system's position, while staying silent may reduce its usefulness against an approaching force.
What NAMIB does not yet demonstrate?
The July test should not be overstated.
It was a simulated collaborative engagement, not a combat operation. The companies have not released full technical specifications or shown that NAMIB can independently conduct a complete SEAD/DEAD mission.
Detecting a radar in a controlled test is also different from reliably finding sophisticated air defences in combat, where deception, jamming, multiple emitters and changing electromagnetic conditions can complicate the task.
The test is significant because it demonstrates a viable manned-unmanned electronic-warfare team, rather than proving a complete combat capability.
What it could mean for future air combat
NAMIB illustrates a broader shift in military aviation.
Future combat aircraft may act less as isolated weapons platforms and more as command centres within a network. Unmanned aircraft can extend their sensors, improve situational awareness, and take on dangerous tasks.
For Rafale, this fits with its move toward more networked operations. Dassault says the F4 architecture can communicate with a wide range of assets and exploit capabilities such as electromagnetic detection and geolocation.
For Harmattan AI, the project shows how autonomous systems can be integrated into existing military architectures rather than treated as stand-alone weapons.
The beginning of a larger shift
NAMIB may be remembered less as a single EW payload and more as a sign of where military aviation is heading.
The July flight showed a small, unmanned aircraft finding a radar, locating it, and passing that information to a Rafale for a simulated engagement. The chain is simple, but the concept is important.
Put the sensor where the threat is, keep the human operator farther away, connect the unmanned system to the combat aircraft, and turn the information it gathers into an actionable target.
As autonomous aircraft become cheaper and more capable, electronic warfare may become more distributed. Future forces may rely on networks of autonomous sensors working with fighters, command aircraft, and other unmanned systems.
NAMIB is an early example of that model—and a sign that control of the electromagnetic spectrum is increasingly becoming a team effort between humans and autonomous machines.
