The aircraft was modernized by Sabena, acting as subcontractor to Dassault Aviation. For the record, the program reached the halfway point milestone back in July 2022 when the eighth and ninth aircraft were delivered.
The DGA highlighted how important these aircraft are for the French defense:
“The Atlantique 2 is the only French-made maritime patrol aircraft in service since the end of the 1990s. It was designed for armed anti-submarine warfare. It contributes to the safety and autonomy of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) of the Strategic Oceanic Force (FOST), contributes to the protection of naval forces in operation and participates in the control of the air-sea environment below and above the surface, from the coast to the open sea. It can also be configured for intelligence gathering and various missions above land.”
The program calls for the upgrade of a total of 18 airframes to “standard 6” by 2025.
About ATL2 Standard 6 MPA
For the record, the contract for the upgraded (standard 6) ATL2 combat system was awarded by the defense procurement agency DGA on October 4, 2013. The program covers 18 aircraft, with the French Navy originally fielding 22 “legacy” ATL2s. Dassault Aviation is delivering a total of seven upgraded ATL2s between 2019 and 2023. In parallel, the SIAé aeronautical maintenance center will upgrade 11 aircraft.
The first two aircraft upgraded by Dassault Aviation were delivered to the French Navy in October 2019. A third ATL2 was delivered in April 2020. As part of the qualification trials, a “live” AM39 Exocet air-launched anti-ship missile was test-fired by an upgraded MPA in June 2020 (picture above). Moving forward, two more Atlantique 2 “Standard 6” are set to be delivered in 2021 for a total fleet of five operational aircraft by the time the FOC is achieved.
The “Standard 6” upgrade work includes:
- A new radar: The Thales Search Master with active antenna,
- A new acoustic subsystem by Thales: It gathers and processes signals from the latest-generation of sonobuoys for submarine detection,
- A new navigation console designed by Dassault Aviation,
- New consoles for the tactical display subsystem, developed by SIAé
The standard 6 upgrade improves the ATL2s’ capability to support the Strategic Oceanic Force (French SSBN fleet), to deal with modern threats (future nuclear or conventional submarines, naval forces at sea, etc.) and to support air-land missions, until 2030.
ATL2 replacement
The ATL2 was set to be replaced by the French-German MAWS program. However, following Germany’s decision to procure the P-8A as an “interim” solution, France started studying alternatives. In December 2022, the DGA awarded Airbus Defense and Space and Dassault Aviation two study contracts for the architecture of a future maritime patrol aircraft (Patmar) based on the Airbus A320neo and Dassault Falcon 10X platforms.