Victory for French Defense
With France's new order of Falcon Albatros from Dassault Aviation, this is a great victory for French companies that maintain strategic expertise for French National Defense. On September 26, the Direction générale de l’Armement (DGA) notified the order of five Falcon 2000 Albatros from Dassault Aviation, as part of the Maritime Surveillance and Intervention Aircraft (AVSIMAR) program.
This program provides for the acquisition of twelve aircraft, seven of which had already been ordered in December 2020. Dassault Aviation and the dozens of French companies associated with the Falcon programs have taken note of this decision by the ministère des Armées, the Marine nationale and the DGA.
A versatile and high-performance aircraft
The Falcon 2000 Albatros integrates an under-fuselage multifunction radar, a high-performance optronic turret, observation windows, a SAR (Search & Rescue) chain release system, and dedicated communication systems. It is based on the Falcon 2000LXS business jet, the latest addition to the Falcon 2000 series, of which several hundred have been sold worldwide.
Highly versatile, the Falcon 2000LXS has a range of 7,400 km and low-speed performance giving it access to the most challenging airports. The development of the Falcon 2000 Albatros is carried out by Dassault Aviation in cooperation with Naval Group, Safran and Thales. The trials take place at the Dassault Aviation flight test center in Istres. The transformation work is performed by the Dassault Aviation plant in Mérignac.
"It is in the natural order of things that France, which possesses the second largest maritime domain in the world, should be at the forefront of the use of this type of aircraft."
For Éric Trappier, Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation: "From the Falcon 20 of the American Coast-Guard to the Falcon 900 and 2000MSA of the Japanese coast guards, through the Falcon 200 Gardian and 50 M of the Marine nationale, we have great experience in the field of maritime surveillance."
Several countries are interested in these aircraft, which provide an effective response to the major challenges of territorial maritime protection and security, as well as State action at sea: fighting pollution and trafficking, monitoring borders and exclusive zones, fisheries policing, search and rescue at sea, etc. At the same time, Dassault Aviation possesses unique expertise in Europe in the field of maritime patrol, with the Atlantique 1 and 2, combat aircraft designed notably to ensure the highly demanding mission of protecting French nuclear submarines.
For 60 years, Dassault Aviation has modified numerous Falcons to adapt them to maritime surveillance, medical evacuation, cargo transport, calibration, intelligence, training, etc. These multi-role aircraft represent about 10% of the Falcon fleet in service.
Bernard Bertucco Van Damme