For the first time, Royal Air Force combat aircraft have flown in an exercise of France’s airborne nuclear component. The exercise, called “Rummy,” ran on 20–21 October and was announced by both governments on the 23rd.
The Exercise
On the evening of 20 October, Rafale B jets of the 4e Escadre de chasse took off from Air Base 113 at Saint-Dizier, according to Zone Militaire. RAF Eurofighter Typhoons joined them and escorted them to the Mediterranean, where a nuclear strike was simulated. A330 MRTT tankers supported the mission. The French chief of the defence staff said the exercise brought together Rafale, Typhoon and MRTT crews and showed “a very high level of interoperability.” Both ministries stressed that no nuclear weapons were involved.
The Aviationist reports that the RAF sent a small contingent of Typhoon FGR4s to Saint-Dizier. There they flew defensive counter-air escort, working a perimeter around the strike aircraft, checking radar contacts and dealing with threats so the Rafales could stay on mission. In French-only exercises, single-seat Rafale Cs usually fly that role. Neither government gave aircraft numbers or unit names.
The name follows a French habit of naming these exercises after card games. Four times a year the Forces aériennes stratégiques run “Poker,” a full-scale simulated nuclear raid with dozens of aircraft. It culminates in a real or simulated firing of an ASMPA-R missile from a Rafale of the 4e Escadre (Zone Militaire). Until now, no RAF aircraft had taken part in an exercise of the airborne component.
Northwood and Independence
The French ministry called Rummy a new chapter in Franco-British nuclear cooperation. It placed the exercise under the Northwood Declaration of 10 July 2025, in which President Macron and then–Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed to coordinate their deterrents in the event of an “extreme threat” (Zone Militaire). Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said the exercise “demonstrates the depth of our partnership, the credibility of our deterrents and our determination to stand together in the face of emerging threats.” Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin said that “having independent nuclear forces does not exclude coordination.” The UK release states that both countries keep sovereign, independent nuclear forces and national decision-making (UK MoD).
Rummy ran at the same time as NATO’s Steadfast Noon 26 in Italy (Zone Militaire). The UK release ties the exercise to its £63 billion nuclear investment over four years and to plans to buy 12 F-35A aircraft and join NATO’s nuclear mission (UK MoD).
Why It Matters
Rummy does not merge two deterrents. The UK has no air-delivered nuclear weapon, the two countries’ delivery systems are incompatible, and both governments went out of their way to restate their independence. What changed is that the conventional support around a French nuclear mission is no longer purely French. A British fighter escort for a French strike package is a small operational fact with a large political meaning. It shows that Northwood has moved from a declaration to crews rehearsing together.
It also shows a European deterrent architecture built in layers. The same week, NATO’s US-based nuclear-sharing mission trained in Italy while France rehearsed its sovereign airborne leg with British support. Britain now has a foot in both: it plans to join NATO’s nuclear mission with F-35As, and it is flying escort for French Rafales. For allies, the practical question is no longer only whose warheads matter. It is how air forces train together to get a strike package through contested airspace, with tankers, escorts and sensors that can come from more than one nation. The Aviationist notes that German Eurofighters have also recently flown the escort role alongside French Rafale Bs. If that pattern continues, the conventional enabling network around Europe’s nuclear forces may become the most allied part of deterrence, even while the decision to use the weapons stays national.
Source: Zone Militaire — Laurent Lagneau · 23 October 2026 · Zone Militaire report · UK Ministry of Defence release · The Aviationist