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France Unfurls the Flag of Freedom: Deploys E-3 AWACS and Rafale Jets to Monitor the Battlefield

Breaks a Critical American Dependency

Shankar Narayan
5 min readMar 14, 2025

A French E-3F AWACS roared into the sky, flanked by two Rafale fighter jets — on a mission that changes everything. For the first time since Russia’s invasion of Europe, France has taken direct action. This wasn’t just reconnaissance; it was a statement. A declaration that European security will no longer be dictated by Washington’s whims.

Flight tracking confirms the recon-mission remained well within international airspace. That’s good. That’s enough. No need to cross into hostile skies — because the E-3 Sentry doesn’t have to. From 400 km out, it can detect low-flying threats. From 520 km, it sees medium-altitude targets. And today, it wasn’t just watching. It was rewiring the battlefield.

This wasn’t a NATO reconnaissance mission. It was a French mission. One E-3 Sentry. Two Rafale fighter jets. A direct assertion of France’s role in the conflict.

Each Rafale — and by extension, all French and NATO fighter jets — can link to the E-3 Sentry through a secure network called…

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Shankar Narayan
Shankar Narayan

Written by Shankar Narayan

He didn't care what he had or what he had left, he cared only about what he must do.

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