Direct proof of use
The French Navy's April 2007 Breves Marine note records that on March 28, 2007, a Rafale Marine F2 from flottille 12F engaged an armed Taliban group with a 250 kg GBU-12 laser-guided bomb. The note says the combat mission supported Dutch troops on the ground who were in contact with that group.
Revue Defense Nationale separately describes the Rafale's Afghanistan deployment as a close-air-support mission in a counterinsurgency environment. It says Rafales deployed in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2011, first at Dushanbe and later at Kandahar, and that early F2-standard aircraft flew mixed patrols with Mirage 2000D aircraft while armed with GBU-12 laser-guided bombs.
Sources: Breves Marine Rafale Afghanistan, Immediate Action Rafale Operations
Operational deployment
The first documented Rafale weapons use in this conflict came from the French naval air group deployed with the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle during the Agapanthe 07 mission in the Indian Ocean. The French Navy note identifies the aircraft as a Rafale Marine F2 and the weapon as a GBU-12 built from a Mk 82 bomb body and a Paveway II laser-guidance kit.
The land-based French airpower posture changed as the war continued. Air University Press describes the 2007 move of French combat aircraft from Dushanbe to Kandahar as placing French aircraft much closer to the main combat zones, increasing their coalition air-support role. It adds that Mirage F1-CR, Mirage 2000D, and Rafale squadrons rotated through Kandahar so that the French detachment kept six fighters there until 2012.
Sources: Breves Marine Rafale Afghanistan, Air University French Airpower Afghanistan
Role and capability progression
The Afghanistan record supports a close-air-support role for Rafale on the United States, NATO, and Afghan government side of the war. Revue Defense Nationale says early Rafale F2 aircraft had air-to-ground capability but lacked their own laser-designation pod, so Mirage 2000D aircraft assisted with ground-target designation.
Later deployments added more independent strike capability. Revue Defense Nationale says AASM entered operational use with Rafale in Afghanistan in 2008, including two AASM bombs launched by a Rafale B on April 20, 2008, and that by the 2011 deployment the F3-standard Rafale carried GBU-12 and AASM with the Damocles pod, ROVER video system, and integrated air-to-ground cannon fire-control system.
Sources: Immediate Action Rafale Operations
