France’s Air and Space Force has tested dispersed combat-aircraft operations from civilian airports, flying three Rafale fighters from Pau Pyrénées Airport and two CASA CN235 transports from Dinard Airport during the BASEX exercise. The deployments, conducted from 23 September to 2 October, examined whether aircraft could sustain missions from temporary sites with limited logistical support while avoiding disruption to commercial activity.
The Rafales came from the 30th Fighter Wing at Mont-de-Marsan and operated from Pau with about 25 personnel, including pilots, mechanics and a protection detachment. The deliberately small team used a mobile SAMD support structure for mission planning and preparation, while conducting training sorties from the southwestern French airport.
At Dinard, the 64th Transport Wing from Évreux deployed two CN235s with approximately 30 personnel. The unit kept its support footprint to a minimum and used the civilian airport’s refuelling capability. Crews conducted training flights, practised explosive-ordnance-disposal procedures and trained with airport fire and rescue services.
The activity formed part of FRA-ACE, France’s adaptation of NATO’s Agile Combat Employment concept, which seeks to disperse aircraft from permanent bases and preserve sortie generation under attack. It was the second consecutive year of comparable French deployments from civilian airports, following Mirage 2000D operations from Metz-Nancy-Lorraine in 2025 and further A400M and Mirage 2000-5 deployments in 2026.