The ground starts to shake before anything can be seen on a dull, cloudy morning at the DGA engine test facility in Saclay, which is just outside of Paris. Technicians in worn blue dungarees walk between computers and heavy cables, holding coffee cups in their hands. They move with the calm, deliberate rhythm that is common around dangerous machines. A Rafale engine comes to life behind a thick glass wall, where it is bolted to a steel test bench. The sound doesn’t just fill the room; it pushes into your chest. A single flaw, like a blade that isn’t lined up right, could cause the whole system to break down in a split second.
But no one is scared. What you see instead is complete focus.
An engineer in his twenties moves closer to the glass and stares at the flame coming from the exhaust. “Listen,” she says. “You are hearing the only fighter engine in Europe that we can build all by ourselves.”
She means France.
And she’s pointing to something that most people still miss.
France’s Quiet Air Power Edge
From afar, Europe looks strong: Airbus rules civil aviation, there are multinational fighter programs, shared budgets, and layers of cooperation. But if you look at the engine, which is the most sensitive part of a combat aircraft, the picture changes a lot. France is almost all alone.
The M88 engine in the Rafale was designed and built by Safran with constant oversight from the DGA. It is the only modern European fighter engine whose entire design, testing, and industrial control stay within the country’s borders. No licenses from the U.S. You don’t have to have British, German, or Italian partners. In France, you can make every choice, from the digital model to the final turbine blade.
It’s not about pride. It’s about having an advantage.
When you walk into a DGA test hall, you won’t see a polished showroom. Instead, there are thick concrete walls stained by exhaust, old analogue gauges next to ultra-high-resolution screens, and cardboard coffee cups on racks of sensors that cost millions. The M88, which is the living core of the Rafale, is in the middle. It looks small compared to the thunder it makes.
Engineers deliberately push the engine far beyond what a pilot would ever try during test campaigns. Sudden changes in the throttle, fake bird strikes, eating sand, and violent swings in temperature. Cameras follow a single blade that is only a few centimetres long and spins at tens of thousands of revolutions per minute.
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It’s not just a part that’s lost if that blade breaks. It’s a plane. A pilot. A task. And the trustworthiness of a country.
This is where the DGA’s job becomes clear. It’s not just an agency that gives contracts the go-ahead. It is the state’s main way of analysing defence. The DGA sets very high standards for the M88 and the future engine of the Franco-German SCAF fighter. It tests prototypes over and over again until only what really works is left.
Safran would still be a big engine maker even if DGA labs and test benches didn’t exist. But France wouldn’t be the only European country that could fully control the whole chain—design, materials, production, testing, certification, and operational feedback.
That small difference—who really owns the last bolt—becomes very important when things go wrong.
The Microscopic Accuracy of a French Fighter Engine
To understand why this ability is so rare, you need to look at it on a millimetre scale. It’s not just about raw thrust when building a fighter engine. It’s about tolerances that are so precise that a single hair would look thick by comparison. The DGA and Safran work together like watchmakers with flamethrowers.
In one workshop, a technician makes small adjustments to the cooling holes on a turbine blade. You can barely see each opening because they were laser-drilled into metal that was designed at the atomic level to withstand very high temperatures. The DGA’s job is to set a clear limit on how hot “extreme” can be and to make sure that it is measured accurately.
Here, accuracy is a must. That’s why a pilot can turn on the full afterburner and trust that the engine will work perfectly.
There are a lot of skilled engineers in Europe, but very few countries have full control over the whole chain. For example, the EJ200 engine in the Eurofighter Typhoon is a project that involves people from many countries. Each country is in charge of certain modules, software parts, or areas of expertise. It’s strong, but no one capital has complete control over it.
France went a different way. The government always put money into a national engine lineage, from the Mirage series to the Rafale. Even when budgets were tight and critics said working together would be cheaper, they did it anyway. The DGA wanted to make progress in materials, aerodynamics, digital simulation, and testing infrastructure in the US, and they kept facilities that many thought were too big for a mid-sized power.
To save money, most governments give up some control. France didn’t. That determination is what makes the country stand out in Europe today.
Recent shocks in the world of politics have suddenly made this long-term choice stand out.
As tensions rise, export controls get stricter and supply chains become political tools. This makes us more vulnerable because we rely on approvals from other countries. Because a single important part or line of code comes from outside Europe, some European planes can’t be sold or upgraded without permission from outside Europe.
France talks directly with partners like India, Egypt, and Greece about the Rafale and its M88 engine. Without permission from anyone else, the DGA can make changes, add new versions, and provide long-term support. France still works with other countries, but it keeps the keys to its engines when it matters most.
That is what sovereignty means in 2026 in a quiet, technical way.
How the DGA Keeps Its Edge in Technology
To keep this level of skill, you have to keep moving. The DGA has a system that constantly sends feedback between labs, test centers, and operational units. Rafale squadrons that fly in deserts send back information about how their engines are wearing down. DGA analysis teams use that information to improve test protocols, which can mean anything from a single software change to a new protective coating.
The cycle never ends. The DGA keeps track of every failure, micro-crack, and other problem as a referee and archivist. Safran might suggest a new alloy or a part made with 3D printing to make things work better. The DGA responds by putting things through the worst conditions they can think of to see where and how they break.
The goal is clear: no surprises at 40,000 feet.
From the outside, this process might look strict. Engineers talk about it in different ways from the inside. A lot of people remember late-night tests when data suddenly spikes and everyone waits quietly as systems break down. At those times, there are no shortcuts. The truth sets in.
A lot of the time, states make the same mistakes: they rely too much on foreign partners, ignore boring test infrastructure, and let rare expertise fade without passing it on. The DGA stays away from these traps on purpose. It pays for little-known doctoral research on high-temperature fatigue and advanced alloys, and it keeps databases of test results that are older than many of its interns.
From a distance, it looks slow. It’s the only way to keep such a complicated craft safe up close.
A DGA engineer says, “People see the Rafale engine as a product.” “In reality, it’s a living ecosystem of skills.” If you stop taking care of it for five years, you can no longer build one. “You can buy one because you’re a country.”
The DGA sets future engine requirements based on what the Air and Space Force needs.
Safran turns those needs into plans for designs and production.
Operational units give real-world feedback to improve standards.
Test centers push engines to their limits so pilots never have to.
Research labs are getting ready to make the next big steps in stealth, heat resistance, and efficiency.
A Quiet Monopoly That Poses a Threat to Europe
When you know how a fighter engine works, Europe’s industrial map changes. France is the only country that can still design, build, and certify a modern fighter engine on its own. Others help and come up with new ideas, but not with the same level of control over their own affairs.
This truth makes things hard to understand. Should Europe put everything into a few big programs, even if that means becoming more dependent on them? Should every country keep some of its independence at a higher cost? Or does the French model—a long-term national investment led by a strong state actor like the DGA—provide a useful example?
There are no easy answers. It’s clear that this technical detail will have a big effect on future combat systems, freedom to export, and making political decisions.
There is a quiet message in the thunder of a Rafale flying over Paris during the 14 July parade. It talks about a country that made the choice decades ago to learn everything about every turning blade and never forget it.
Important Points
France is the only European country that fully controls the fighter engine chain from design to testing.
The DGA’s main job is: Setting standards, paying for research, making sure that extreme testing is done, and keeping expertise
Strategic effect: The right to export, upgrade, and support engines without getting permission from other countries
