Given the unpredictability of the current business environment, our strength lies in our development model, with its focus on the very long term, as well as in the loyalty of our customers. We owe our longevity to our ability to prepare for the future and adapt to new challenges. We play our part each and every day in safeguarding national sovereignty, a vital precondition of long-term sustainability.
We play a key part in France’s national defense by supplying military aircraft, as well as by providing associated support. We have acquired strategic expertise in the design and management of a high-performance and reliable air combat system. Fighter aircraft and their accompanying operational systems constitute the cornerstones of security and deterrence in the face of significant threats.
Dassault Aviation manufactures conventional combat systems. The export of military hardware is the exclusive prerogative of the French government, and is subject to a stringent system of regulatory controls.
Our dual civil-military expertise means that we can count on markets with different business cycles, thus reducing our exposure to fluctuating economic conditions. Our combat jets and civil aircraft are designed in the same department and manufactured in the same plants. The state-of-the-art technology developed for military use also benefits our civil aviation business, which in turn generates innovations in terms of production and certification.
Dassault Aviation is the only aerospace group in the world that is still owned by the family of its founder, Marcel Dassault. This unwavering backing from our main shareholder ensures the stability and continuity of our management team: Éric Trappier is only the fifth CEO in a century. This enables us to take a long-term view, which is a major asset in aviation where cycles stretch over decades: a combat aircraft may well stay in production for 25 years and remain in service for 40 years or more.
Our stability allows us to uphold the values that have driven Dassault Aviation’s success: technical excellence and innovation; a passion for aeronautics; quick strategic decisions; adaptability in the face of change; the determination to meet objectives; efficient management and competitiveness; and a human resources policy designed to attract and retain top talent.
Dassault Aviation takes a unique approach to sharing profits with its employees located in France, based on fair distribution: under special agreements, 245 million euros in profit-sharing and incentive payments were redistributed in view of the 2024 financial results. 370 million euros in dividends were proposed to our shareholders at the annual general meeting on May 16, 2025. Dassault Aviation pays the bulk of its taxes in France: 86% in 2024.
As an industrial architect and systems integrator, Dassault Aviation has extensive expertise in the use of cutting-edge technologies and data. This rare ability makes us a pivotal player when it comes to aerospace research and development in France and Europe, in both civil and military aviation.
Our commitment to innovation is evidenced by our overall R&D expenditures (in-house and externally funded): €1,108 million. Our current developments range from the F4, F5 and export standards of the Rafale and the UCAS, to the NGF demonstrator, as well as the Falcon 10X, Falcon Archange and Falcon Albatros.
We are determined that business aviation continue to be a key driver in the decarbonization of the aviation sector. Our aircraft are ideally suited to the incorporation of innovations that help reduce CO2 emissions. We are exploring a number of avenues, including Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), a highly promising technology: over its life cycle, SAF emits 80% to 90% less CO2 than fossil kerosene. Our Falcons are already equipped to fly with SAF containing 50% non-fossil fuel.
Right from the design stage and throughout their life cycle, we are taking steps to reduce the environmental footprint of our aircraft. As part of France’s civil aviation research council (Corac), we are actively involved in a series of technology maturation projects aimed at achieving sustainability in aviation, most notably the use of 100% SAF to power our Falcons.
Since 2008, the Clean Sky 1 and 2 programs have enabled us to collaborate with some 20 major partners in seven European countries. We are continuing with our efforts in this area by heading up the Clean Aviation program’s Concerto project.
Sesar, a European joint-undertaking devoted to improving air traffic management, has contributed to the development of our FalconEye system, which provides safe access to all airports in poor weather conditions, including those with limited technical resources.
We are developing AI systems to boost performance and safety, while ensuring that humans remain at the heart of the decision-making process. Our approach: deploying the right AI solutions in the right place for the benefit of our crews, our customers and our operations. We are exploring the use of AI to enhance the operational performance of aviation and to enable collaborative combat.
We provide the project management and organizational expertise needed to ensure that all parties involved work together effectively in order to deliver complex programs that meet our customers’ evolving needs, on time and on budget.
We manage the entire life cycle of aircraft programs for our customers and partners. We add value through our ability to manage, coordinate and guarantee the ultimate efficacy of the systems delivered by the projects we lead.
Guarantor of each system’s underlying fundamentals and its development, we are responsible for assessing the technological challenges involved, as well as the scope and sharing of tasks between partners.
Our approach to product design is focused on mastering complexity and harnessing data. Deployed as part of combat bubbles, our future weapons systems need to enable humans to maintain their position at the helm of the decision-making process, while ensuring operational performance in the midst of high-intensity operations and in situations involving contested network conditions. This will be achieved by means of collaborative combat, automated systems based partly on AI, as well as adaptive and resilient system architectures.
The Rafale continues to surge ahead thanks to a combination of technological advances and user feedback. Its F3-R standard, launched in 2014, entered service in December 2019. The F4 standard, with its focus on connectivity and enhanced payloads, will be validated in 2027.
The Rafale F5 standard will be focused on collaborative combat, and will offer the capability of operating in tandem with a UCAS. Drawing on the achievements of the nEUROn program, this highly versatile stealth UCAS system will be designed to keep pace with future threats.
The Falcon 6X is now being flown by our customers, who are enjoying its outstanding levels of performance and comfort.
The Falcon 10X was unveiled in May 2021. First delivery is slated for the end of 2027.
The outstanding features of the Falcon range enable it to be used for a wide variety of missions.
The Falcon Albatros maritime surveillance and intervention aircraft (AVSIMAR) made its maiden flight in January 2025. Deliveries of seven aircraft of this type, based on the Falcon 2000LXS, will commence in 2026.
Launched in December 2019, the Falcon Archange is a Falcon 8X modified for use as a strategic intelligence aircraft. The French government has ordered three Archanges.
The Future Combat Air System (FCAS) Phase 1B contract for R&T and overall flying demonstrator design commenced in March 2023. As prime contractor and architect of the New Generation Fighter NGF (Pillar 1), Dassault Aviation is in charge of coordinating work with the manufacturing teams from all three partner countries at its facility in Saint-Cloud.
Our expertise enables us to design cutting-edge projects and to support future space ventures.
Our capabilities as a system architect draw on major digital technologies, ranging from 3D creation to artificial intelligence. For over forty years, we have been among the pioneers in this industrial revolution, working to ensure digital continuity across all our products.
Ever since the revolutionary advent of 3D modeling, we have been investing in digital innovations. This was the crucible that forged Dassault Systèmes, our long-standing partner. Our links with the world leader in product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions provide us with the expertise and methods needed to apply these powerful digital technologies to our industrial activities. The new tools we are deploying also enhance our ability to look ahead and take a comprehensive view—from design through production, and right down to support and the user experience.
Our new Falcon and future combat aircraft are all developed using Dassault Systèmes’ state-of-the-art 3DExperience platform, which has replaced the PLM solutions used previously in our civil and military aircraft programs.
We use the 3DExperience platform on Dassault Systèmes’ sovereign cloud to support the operational readiness of aircraft operated by the French armed forces, as well as for our work on the FCAS. Our partnership with Dassault Systèmes is the first collaborative engineering solution designed specifically to meet the cyber requirements of defense programs. This represents a significant step towards the creation of a sovereign cloud in Europe.
This approach involves using a shared digital model to coordinate everybody involved in the development of large airborne systems. It is being extended to our new programs, including the ongoing FCAS/NGF collaborative project. The system digital model allows security and data sovereignty considerations to be incorporated from the very outset.
Our big data approach to support enables us to analyze data relating to the operational life of aircraft and fleets. These cross-functional analyses, based on predictive maintenance models, speed up problem resolution and allow for a more proactive approach to maintenance planning. The digital twin system, which compares the aircraft’s actual performance to that of its digital model, further increases our forecasting capabilities, thus improving aircraft availability.
Our ongoing efforts to enhance both our manufacturing processes and our production ecosystem are key to achieving the high levels of quality and competitiveness demanded by the global market. Our manufacturing system is focused on the adjustment of our supply chain and the expansion of our international operations.
The 2016 contract for 36 Rafales has strengthened our over 70-year relationship with India thanks to an increased sharing of workloads and technologies, resulting in sustained benefits in terms of competitiveness. Since 2020, our Nagpur plant, located in Maharashtra, has been producing Falcon 2000 front fuselage sections. The ramp-up in production has resulted in the addition of a second 135,000-sq-foot production facility.
Our fully operational Pune facility, Dassault Aviation Services India – Engineering Center (DASI-EC), has just celebrated its fifth anniversary.
We are working actively to develop the Indian supply chain, by expanding our network of local partners. We have qualified major new Indian subcontractors, most notably Dynamatic (for the manufacture of the Falcon 6X T5 section fuel tank and the supply of primary parts) and Aerolloy, a subsidiary of the PTC Group (for development of a titanium foundry).
We have put in place a centralized management system to facilitate the ramping up of production, and to support to some of our subcontractors as we pursue our Make in India strategy.
All our plants are managed using a centralized Operational Performance System (OPS), which is also utilized by our key suppliers in the interest of enhancing overall resilience.
We are continuing to invest, in particular to pave the way for the advent of the new Falcon 10X: a building to house its simulator, in Istres; a building devoted to wing box systems, in Martignas; new buildings to handle the assembly and fitting out of all Falcon fuselages, as well as the final assembly of the Falcon 10X, in Mérignac; and two new buildings (painting and Falcon 10X) in Little Rock. Our Cergy plant was completed in 2024, and has taken over from its predecessor in Argenteuil. The first aircraft sections have already rolled off the production line at the new facility.