The Rafale will soon be equipped with an improved OSF, with the Direction Générale de l'Armement having recently carried out trials on a new optic on the OSF's infrared channel, which is expected to improve the ‘image quality of the night identification function’.
This upgrade will be accompanied by the integration of Link 16 Block 2, CONTACT digital software radio and the TRAGEDAC system (which will give the Rafale a passive target location capability by networking aircraft in the same patrol) and CAPOEIRA (for enhanced connectivity for Rafale upgrades). What's more, the development of an anti-radar missile is also under way, as part of the ‘Armement Air-Surface Futur’ major effect programme, which ‘meets the need for a capability to neutralise short- and medium-range surface-to-air threats, an essential prerequisite for the Rafale's first entry capability’.