Exercise Rummy: RAF Typhoons Escort French Rafale B on a Simulated Nuclear Strike Over the Mediterranean
Saint-Dizier, 20 October 2026
Key points
- In Exercise Rummy on 20–21 October, Rafale B of France's Strategic Air Forces took off from Saint-Dizier on the evening of 20 October and flew a simulated nuclear strike over the Mediterranean, escorted by RAF Typhoons and supported by A330 MRTT tankers; no nuclear weapons were involved
- Paris and London announced the exercise on 23 October and both place it under the Northwood declaration of 10 July 2025, which set up a UK-France Nuclear Steering Group across "nuclear policy, capabilities and operations"
- Both governments say the two nuclear forces stay independent, with national decision-making; Catherine Vautrin, the French armed forces minister: "Having independent nuclear forces does not exclude coordination"
- The British release links the exercise to GBP 63 billion for the UK deterrent over four years and to the purchase of 12 F-35A to join NATO's nuclear mission
British fighters have escorted a simulated French nuclear raid, in an exercise both governments place under the Northwood declaration of July 2025.
Rummy is separate from Poker, the simulated nuclear raid France's air force runs four times a year, in which conventional squadrons and air defences support a Rafale of the 4th Fighter Wing that fires a real or simulated ASMPA-R. In Rummy the escort was British. Vautrin's line echoes the declaration's own wording, which calls the two forces "independent, but can be coordinated" and states that "there is no extreme threat to Europe that would not prompt a response by our two nations". Wes Streeting, the defence secretary, called the exercise "a new chapter in the defence nuclear relationship" between the two countries. Britain's deterrent is submarine-based, and the RAF Typhoons flew a conventional role; the release says the 12 F-35A will let the UK join NATO's nuclear mission.
Germany's promised participation now has a published model, and it is British. Germany agreed on 17 July to send conventional forces to a French nuclear exercise before the end of 2026, and two Rafale B flew to Nörvenich beside Luftwaffe Eurofighters the day before. That participation has not been disclosed, and Signal No. 174 noted that Poker runs four times a year. Rummy shows the form an ally's conventional contribution to a French raid can take, an escort, and it was announced on 23 October, three days after the flight. Finland, the tenth partner in the French initiative, lists joint exercises among its options. When Germany's turn is announced, it will be measured against Rummy.
Related · France's nuclear deterrent and its European partners
