Dassault Aviation entered 2026 as a group under intense strategic pressure but with a historically high orderbook and a clear ambition to shape the next generation of air combat and business aviation. From contested export campaigns to industrial modernisation, the message delivered this morning in Saint-Cloud was unambiguous: Dassault intends to remain a sovereign systems prime in France, while deepening its global partnerships and betting heavily on artificial intelligence.

Éric Trappier framed 2026 as a year marked by converging pressures, namely a volatile military and geopolitical environment, French budgetary constraints and US trade measures that create uncertainty for activity, and sustained tax pressure on companies eroding competitiveness. At national level, the French defence budget is preserved, but its concrete impact on programmes still hinges on a revision of the Loi de Programmation Militaire, underlining the fragility of long term planning for industry.

RAFALE at the core of growth

The RAFALE remains the backbone of Dassault Aviation’s defence activity and the key vector tying together operations, exports and industrial transformation.

On the French side, the company delivered 11 RAFALE in 2025, with 45 still to be handed over, while continuing development work and securing the risk reduction notification for the F5 standard, which is closely linked to the airborne nuclear component and aims for an in service date between 2033 and 2035. The recent hardening of French nuclear posture might represent a pushing factor for further French orders, too. 

On export markets, Dassault delivered 15 RAFALE in 2025, with 175 remaining to be delivered and a total backlog of 220 aircraft as of 31 December 2025. The entry into force of India’s contract for 26 RAFALE-M for the Indian Navy, alongside continued export prospecting, contributes to a cumulative 533 RAFALE ordered since programme launch, including 323 for export across eight customer nations and a network of around 400 French companies federated by the programme.

This sustained demand drives a parallel expansion and modernisation of the industrial base: in Martignas, enlarged buildings were brought online in April 2025 to increase wing and fin production capacity for RAFALE, while in Mérignac two new buildings were made available to host the fuselage assembly line for Falcon and the general assembly line for the company’s different aircraft, pooling military and civil synergies.

The RAFALE thus acts as an anchor load for sites and suppliers, enabling Dassault to justify investments in facilities, digital tools and workforce expansion that will also benefit future systems.

Beyond RAFALE: a diversified programme portfolio

Dassault is careful to present itself not as a “RAFALE mono product” company, but as a diversified aerospace player balancing combat aircraft, missionised platforms, business jets and emerging space activities.

On the mission aircraft segment, the Falcon 2000 ALBATROS maritime surveillance and intervention aircraft completed its first flight on 24 January 2025, with the French DGA notifying an order for five additional aircraft, bringing the total to 12 and paving the way for a first delivery in 2026.

ARKANGE, the Falcon 8X based strategic intelligence aircraft, also achieved its first flight in July 2025, with development ongoing amid growing demand for high end ISR capabilities in contested environments. In the space domain, Dassault is studying the development of the VORTEX-D spaceplane demonstrator, supported by a convention with the French defence procurement agency (DGA) and underpinned by a letter of intent with the European Space Agency (ESA) that opens the door to wider European or extra European partnerships.

On the business aviation front, the Falcon line regained momentum in 2025, with 31 orders compared to 26 in 2024 and 37 deliveries versus 31 the previous year, despite market uncertainties in the United States during the first half of 2025. Customer feedback on the Falcon 6X remains positive, the fleet has already accumulated over 7,000 flight hours, and the first Falcon 10X airframe is completing fabrication, highlighting a dual use industrial model where technologies, skills and tools flow between the defence and business segments.

Industrial modernisation and supply chain resilience

Behind the programme headlines lies a deliberate effort to harden and modernise Dassault’s industrial system. In Cergy, the new factory was inaugurated on 23 September 2025, while at Istres the Falcon 6X building is being extended to accommodate the larger Falcon 10X, reflecting a long term commitment to high end business jets as a strategic pillar for cash flow and technology. Internationally, the opening of a new Dassault Falcon Jet maintenance centre in Melbourne, Australia, strengthens support for the global Falcon fleet.

In parallel, Dassault is investing heavily in human capital: 1,579 people were recruited in 2025, bringing headcount to 15,024 at year end, with a strong focus on conversion training and apprenticeships in key trades such as fitters, cable harness integrators and machinists. This workforce expansion is coupled with a decarbonisation and efficiency drive: Dassault reports a 35% reduction in CO2 emissions versus 2019, and a further 2% reduction in 2025 despite increased activity, achieved through renewable energy purchases in France and the US, electrification of fixed and mobile means, and the use of urban heat networks in Cergy. All current production aircraft are compatible with 50% sustainable aviation fuel, with a target of 100%, even as the company fights regulatory measures such as France’s TSBA tax and challenges EU taxonomy rules it sees as penalising business aviation and, by extension, investment capacity in decarbonisation.

India’s rise as a pivotal partner

If one country symbolises Dassault Aviation’s evolving geopolitical positioning, it is India. The Defence Acquisition Council’s decision to enter direct negotiations for the purchase of 114 RAFALE, combined with the already effective contract for 26 RAFALE-M for the Indian Navy, propels India from major export customer to long term strategic partner.

Dassault has committed to a robust “Make in India” approach for the 114 aircraft under negotiation and consolidated its industrial footprint with the majority takeover in 2025 of the DRAL joint venture, strengthening both its presence and its autonomy in the country. Beyond final assembly, the group is actively developing an Indian supply chain: a dual source fuselage section production line for RAFALE with Tata Advanced Systems, a partnership with Dynamatic for the rear fuselage of the Falcon 6X, and the development of new production streams across the Indian industrial fabric. This shift has strategic implications: it diversifies Dassault’s supply base, reduces exposure to European regulatory constraints, and embeds the company in the growth trajectory of the Indian aerospace ecosystem.

For New Delhi, it offers not only high end combat capabilities but also technology transfer, jobs and a say in the future evolution of the RAFALE family, including standards such as F5 and potential derivatives.

AI as a structural “technology brick”

A central theme of the 2026 press conference was Dassault’s view of artificial intelligence as a foundational “technology brick” across engineering, operations and future air systems.

On the digital backbone side, the company is harmonising data and engineering tools around 3DExperience, modernising planning with SAP, deploying APRISO at Cergy and using BLEU for collaboration, while rolling out a sovereign internal AI based on an open source Mistral model hosted securely in its own datacentres.

AI is being operationalised along three main axes. First, AI for teams and customers: automation of repetitive tasks, analysis of complex datasets, technical document search, accelerated access to knowledge, translation, document enhancement and software development, all aim to relieve engineers and support staff so they can focus on high value design and integration work.

Second, AI for maintenance and support: leveraging aggregated “big data” from military fleets to shift further towards predictive maintenance, improving aircraft availability and optimising support contracts for both French and export users.

Third, embedded AI and defence systems: Dassault is maturing supervised AI assistants to help aircrews in critical decision making, a key step towards the “collaborative combat” paradigm where manned platforms orchestrate loyal wingmen, drones and networked effectors. To accelerate this trajectory and keep control of sovereign capabilities, Dassault announced a strategic partnership with Harmattan AI on 12 January 2026, including participation in the company’s 200 million dollar Series B funding round. This partnership sits alongside collaborations with Thales (cortAIx) and AMIAD and is aimed explicitly at embedding “mastered autonomy” and robust AI into future combat air systems – a message clearly intended for both SCAF negotiators and export customers seeking credible roadmaps to sixth generation concepts.

Solid financials underpinning strategic choices

All of this rests on a strong financial base: in 2025, Dassault Aviation booked €10.9 billion in new orders (up 1% year on year), generated €7.4 billion in revenue (up 19%), and closed the year with a €46.6 billion backlog, up 8% on 2024. Export defence orders accounted for €7.5 billion euros (26 aircraft), French defence for €0.8 billion, while Falcon represented €2.6 billion (31 aircraft), broadly in line with 2024 volumes but with improved deliveries. Self funded R&D, at €389 million euros versus €437 million in 2024, remains substantial, even if slightly down, signalling a careful balance between shareholder expectations and the need to invest in enablers such as AI, digital twins and demonstrators like VORTEX.

For Dassault, the message is that financial robustness, a full orderbook and a diversified portfolio are not ends in themselves, but levers to retain strategic autonomy in design and integration in a defence industrial landscape increasingly dominated by mega platforms and multinational compromises. In this context, the 2026 annual press conference reveals that Dassault Aviation is betting on India as a co producer, on AI as a transversal capability, and on a modernised, decarbonising industrial tool to navigate regulatory and geopolitical turbulence – all while keeping RAFALE as the centre of gravity of its ecosystem for at least the next decade.

(Yes, SCAF was at the core of the press conference, too… but we decided that this “less analytic” part deserved a separate article)

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