Welcome Aboard 2021-2022

Governance and family values

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 of our management team: Eric Trappier is only the fifth Chairman and CEO in a century. This ability to take a long‑term view is a major asset in aviation, an industry with extremely long cycles: an aircraft may well stay in production for as long as 25 years and remain in service for more than 40 years.

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 top talent and ensure their loyalty.

Profit sharing

We take a unique approach to sharing profits based on fair distribution, in particular a profit‑sharing agreement and an incentive scheme for our French employees that go well beyond legal requirements.

Corporate philosophy

Our blend of civilian and military activities makes a significant contribution to France’s national defense capabilities.

Customer satisfaction, grounded in the principles of integrity, trust and loyalty, is our top priority. Dassault Aviation’s ongoing success stems from the skills and commitment of our people. Our pursuit of technological excellence and innovation goes hand in hand with a commitment to quality and environmental protection. Economic performance involves providing shareholders and the financial markets with open and accurate information, complying with the rules of fair competition and treating suppliers equitably. We are outward‑looking, with a proactive policy of partnerships, employee training and sustained links with the scientific and academic communities.

Dual expertise: civil and military

Our dual civil‑military expertise means that we can count on two different markets with different business cycles, reducing our exposure to fluctuating economic conditions. We design and produce both military and business aircraft in the same design departments and factories. 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.

Substantial investments

Our focus on innovation is reflected by major research contracts and substantial self‑financed investments. We are working on the ongoing development of the Rafale (F4 and export standards), as well as on the development of the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), the Falcon 6X and 10X, the Falcon 8X Archange, the Falcon 2000 Albatros, in addition to the Eurodrone and nEUROn UCAVs.

Integrating technological breakthroughs

In order to achieve the right balance between long‑term technological developments and short‑cycle innovations, we are developing architectures capable of integrating developments and breakthroughs, while meeting the highest level of security requirements. We are also actively engaged with a large ecosystem of start‑ups, with a view to fostering innovation.

Meeting environmental challenges

Inspired by the need for fuel‑efficient, high‑performance aircraft, we are working on solutions to reduce air transport emissions. We are involved in research programs that seek to achieve technological and operational breakthroughs from an environmental point of view. These breakthroughs relate to three main issues: reducing aircraft drag and weight, specifically thanks to the use of high‑aspect‑ratio laminar flow wings; improving fuel consumption thanks to optimized flight paths; and using sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) that offer significant reductions in the carbon footprint of aviation.

Civil aviation research in France

As part of France’s civil aviation research council (Corac), we are actively involved in a series of technology maturation projects that are in step with the French aeronautics stimulus plan.

European cooperation

Since 2008, Clean Sky 1 and 2 have provided us with an excellent opportunity to demonstrate our technological solutions. In the process, we have worked with some 20 major partners in seven European countries. We are pursuing this collective approach with the Clean Aviation program, which follows on from the two previous Clean Sky projects.

Our main research focus continues to be in the areas of ecodesign, new materials, as well as maintenance and recycling technologies aimed at optimizing aircraft life cycles.

Sesar, a European joint undertaking devoted to improving air traffic management, has contributed to the development of our Falcon Eye system, which provides safe access to airports in conditions of poor visibility, including those with limited technical resources.

Airborne artificial intelligence

The next phase of the Man‑Machine Teaming (MMT) program, which is devoted to developing advanced solutions for enhancing man‑machine interfaces, is currently under preparation. This phase will further consolidate the ecosystem that has already been developed to facilitate the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into military aviation.

Industrial and design architect

We manage the entire life cycle of programs for our customers and partners. We ensure the system’s underlying fundamentals and its development. We are responsible for assessing the technological challenges as well as the scope and sharing of tasks between partners. And we manage, coordinate and guarantee the ultimate efficacy of the systems delivered. This is the added value we provide as an industrial architect.

Our focus as a design architect is on developing data‑driven systems with resilient and adaptable architectures, as well as collaborative functions that can be distributed across multiple platforms to cope with potentially compromised network conditions.

New Generation Fighter

We are the leading industrial partner in the European New Generation Fighter (NGF) program, a mainstay of the Future Combat Air System (FCAS). On the basis of the concept study contract signed in January 2019, France and Germany officially announced the start of preliminary development work on the NGF demonstrator. In December 2020, Spain became the third partner in the FCAS program.

A networked system, the FCAS includes the NGF, existing fighters, UAVs, and cruise missiles, which are all integrated with other defense systems.

Rafale: continuous improvement

The Rafale continues to surge ahead thanks to a combination of technological advances and user feedback. Its F3‑R standard, launched in 2014, entered initial operational capability in December 2019. It will be followed by the F4 standard: starting in 2022 for certain functions, with full operational capability scheduled for 2024.

The F4 standard focuses on connectivity, survivability, combat engagement capabilities and dispatch reliability. The first export order for the F4 was placed by the United Arab Emirates in December 2021, with a contract for the purchase of 80 Rafales.

Future Rafale standards are already being planned.

New Falcons

The Falcon 10X was unveiled in May 2021. It is set to become the most comfortable and spacious ultra‑long‑range business jet on the market. Its entry into service is scheduled for late 2025.

The Falcon 6X program was launched in February 2018 for entry into service in late 2022. It completed its first flight on March 10, 2021.

Special-mission Falcons

The contract for the maritime surveillance Falcon Albatros (AVSIMAR) was officially announced in December 2020.

The Archange airborne strategic intelligence program was officially announced in December 2019. It will be based on three Falcon 8X aircraft equipped with electronic warfare systems designed by Thales.

Partnering on unmanned systems

The nEUROn is the first stealth combat drone (UCAV) to date to be developed as a joint European program. Since its first flight in 2012, the nEUROn has completed 160 test flights, which have yielded invaluable information with regard to its advanced stealth and operational support capabilities.

Space expertise

Our expertise enables us to design cutting‑edge projects and to support future French and European space activities, which are central to strategic autonomy.

Digital DNA

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 adapt these powerful 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.

A sovereign information system

We are investing in a sovereign and high‑performance information system. As an architect of aeronautical solutions working in partnership with our industrial partners and our government customers, we are building the collaborative combat systems of the future.

3DExperience platform

In 2018, the decision was made to transition to 3DExperience, Dassault Systèmes’ unified platform, which has replaced existing PLM solutions used in our civil and military aircraft programs. The development of the new Falcon and future combat aircraft is currently taking place in a 3DExperience environment.

Collaborative system engineering

Collaborative system engineering involves using a shared digital model to coordinate everybody involved in the development of large airborne systems.

Implemented as part of the ATL2 modernization project, this method is currently being applied as part of the NGF collaborative project and will be used for our new programs. Digital modelling allows security and data sovereignty considerations to be incorporated very early in the process. Dassault  Aviation is also connected to the secure platforms used by the French defense procurement agency (DGA) and its partners, providing greater scope for joint development work.

Analysis, decision-making and big data

We make use of big data in all our programs. It enables the deployment of management, analysis and decision‑making tools, based on strictly controlled and sovereign shared data.

In 2020, to develop the Artificial Intelligence algorithms required for big data, we launched both an “AI Challenge for Industry” - in partnership with the Greater Paris Region - and specifically aeronautics‑related research as part of our Data Science Lab collaboration with Dassault Systèmes.