The Direction générale de l’armement (DGA), the French defense procurement agency, has accepted the development phase and the first two Falcon 2000LXS Albatros maritime surveillance aircraft.
The aircraft themselves reached the French Navy earlier. In a statement published on September 8, 2026, the DGA said it delivered the first two Albatros on July 27 and July 31, 2026, when they arrived at Lann-Bihoué naval air base in Brittany.
They are assigned to Flottille 24F. The Centre d’Expérimentations Pratiques et de Réception de l’Aéronautique Navale (CEPA), the French Navy’s trials and acceptance unit, has begun military testing ahead of an initial operational capability declaration.
France plans fleet of 12 Albatros by 2031
The Avion de Surveillance et d’Intervention Maritime (AVSIMAR) program covers twelve aircraft. Seven were ordered in December 2020, and five more on September 26, 2025.
Dassault said the full fleet is due by 2031. The DGA said a third aircraft is scheduled for delivery by the end of 2026, with subsequent deliveries running at two per year, a cadence that reaches twelve aircraft in 2031.
The twelve Albatros will replace thirteen aircraft: eight Falcon 50M based in Morbihan and five Falcon 200 Gardian aircraft based in the Pacific, according to the DGA. Withdrawal of that fleet began in 2025.
Albatros combines SearchMaster radar with EuroFLIR 410
The Albatros is a converted Falcon 2000LXS. The DGA lists a Thales SearchMaster X-band active electronically scanned array radar, a Safran EuroFLIR 410 optronic turret and a mission system developed by Naval Group, alongside satellite communications, a search and rescue beacon detector, a life raft release system and smoke markers.
The DGA said the aircraft has an operating radius 10% to 30% greater than the maritime surveillance aircraft it replaces. Dassault put its range at 7,400 kilometers (approximately 4,600 miles).
The type first flew on January 24, 2025. Dassault’s Mérignac plant carries out conversion work, with flight testing at Istres. A second phase of AVSIMAR is intended to add uncrewed systems to cover the remaining surveillance requirement.
Separately, France is replacing its Atlantique 2 maritime patrol fleet under the PATMAR program, for which the DGA selected the Airbus A321 MPA.