The French Air Force announced the first flight of the most advanced variant of the Rafale platform. The flight took place at the 118th Air Base in Mont-de-Marsan on 10 December 2018.

The work for the platform, called Rafale F3-R, which is the most advanced member of the family, was launched in 2013. Unlike its predecessors, there are advanced equipment such as Meteor long range air-air missile, Laser Guided version of Modular Air-to-Ground Weapon System compatible Talios targeting pod integrated on aircraft. Rafale's effectiveness in moving ground targets has been improved with the advanced targeting system. In addition to these systems, AGCAS (Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System) was integrated into the platforms. Thanks to the system that surrounds the plane like a virtual bubble, the risk of collision on the ground is reduced to a minimum.

France Military Air Trials Center (CEAM) announced that, the aircraft will be put in active mission after several months of technical and operational testing phase.