France’s defense procurement agency, the Direction Générale de l’Armement, has taken delivery of the first two Dassault Falcon 2000LXS Albatros maritime surveillance jets, the manufacturer announced on Wednesday.
Handing over the aircraft marks a milestone for AVSIMAR, France’s maritime surveillance and intervention aircraft program, which launched in 2020 and grew with an order for five more jets announced in October 2025. France expects to employ a fleet of 12 by 2031.
Based on the super-midsize Falcon 2000LXS business jet, the Albatros carries a multifunction radar under its fuselage, an optronic turret housing electro-optical and infrared sensors, observation windows, dedicated communications systems, and equipment for dropping search-and-rescue gear. Dassault said the jet’s roughly 4,000-nm range puts distant search areas within reach, and a maximum speed of Mach 0.86 gets it there quickly, while “excellent” low-speed handling suits the search itself.
Naval Group, Safran, and Thales worked with Dassault Aviation to develop the aircraft. Flight testing took place at Dassault’s Istres flight-test center in southern France, and conversion work continues at its Mérignac plant near Bordeaux.
In a statement, Dassault Aviation chairman and CEO Éric Trappier pointed to applications such as pollution and trafficking enforcement, exclusive economic zone surveillance, fisheries policing, search and rescue, and medical evacuations, noting that France holds “the second-largest maritime domain in the world.”
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