Temporary capability gap following C-160G retirement<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\nThe C-160 Transall was retired in 2022 after 59 years of service with the French Air Force. Its withdrawal also marked the end of the C-160G Gabriel, introduced in 1989 for long-range SIGINT missions and still supporting NATO surveillance flights over the Baltic and Black Seas until its retirement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With the first Archange delivery not expected before late 2025, France has relied on a mix of interim assets, including ALSR \u201cVador\u201d aircraft based on the King Air 350, MQ-9 Reaper drones with electromagnetic payloads, and upgraded Atlantique 2 maritime patrol aircraft. In space, the CERES satellite constellation, launched in 2021, provides orbital electromagnetic intelligence coverage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These platforms offer only partial coverage compared to the capabilities of the Gabriel. In a 2022 parliamentary report, MP Jean-Jacques Ferrara noted that \u201cthe C-160 Gabriel provided a specific capability, to which satellites or drones cannot be substituted.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
While the C-160\u2019s tactical transport role has since been taken over by the Airbus A400M, Casa CN235, and a Franco-German C-130J squadron in \u00c9vreux, its strategic intelligence-gathering role is not expected to be fully restored until the Archange fleet is operational.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Deliveries are scheduled for 2025, 2026, and 2028. The three Archange aircraft will be operated by Electronic Squadron 00.054 \u201cDunkerque\u201d at \u00c9vreux-Fauville Air Base. The program also includes the creation of a ground-based training and mission simulation facility.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first aircraft developed under France\u2019s Archange program has completed its maiden flight, according to the country\u2019s defense…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-318990","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114974475087716733","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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