Pictures taken by local plane spotter Raphaël Savry show the Falcon 2000LXS with tail number “F-WATM” and “Albatros” written on the side of the fuselage, performing its maiden flight at Bordeaux-Mérignac airport on January 24, 2025.
As planned in the military programming law (Loi de programmation militaire – LPM) 2019-2025, the French MoD launched in November 220 after a decade of delay the AVSIMAR (Avions de Surveillance et d’Intervention Maritime – Maritime surveillance and intervention aircraft) program dubbed “Albatros” with the initial order for seven aircraft to be delivered from 2025 out of the planned total of 12. In 2025, as reported by Naval News, the second contract for the last five AVSIMAR should be signed if the domestic politics remain stable.
Based on the Falcon 2000LXS – a variant of the Falcon 2000 maritime surveillance aircraft (MSA) offered by Dassault already ordered by the Japanese Coast Guard in 2015- the Albatros is set to replace previous generations of maritime surveillance aircraft in service with the French Navy like the Falcon 50 and Guardian.
The new LXS offers 4,000 nautical miles (7,410 km) range, compared to 3,240 nm (6000 km) for the legacy Falcon 2000. In the MSA variant, the LXS is able to patrol for 7 hours, 200 nautical miles from the coast. That’s more than twice the operational range of the in-service Falcon 200 Guardian, and it’s even better than the three-engined Falcon 50M. This performance boost is key as these aircraft are based in French overseas territories. For example, the Albatros will now be able to connect directly two French command zones in the South Pacific, namely New Caledonia (COMSUP FANC) and Tahiti (ALPACI).
Regarding the aircraft features, the radar fairing hosts the Thales Searchmaster radar which is similar to the radar fitted on the ATL2 maritime patrol aircraft (following they upgrade). Coupled with the Euroflir 410 EO/IR system by Safran, the surveillance capabilities will be greatly enhanced. Unlike the Japanese Coast Guard, the mission system won’t be supplied by L3 Technologies but by French shipbuilder Naval Group. The plane will also benefit from latest generation INS and anti-jamming GPS, allowing it to operate in contested areas –notably over the French territories of the Pacific region. SATCOM will also be fitted with L22 data-link. As on the Falcon 50M and Guardian before, the Albatros will be able to launch rescue equipment from the cabin of the aircraft.
Being based on the Falcon 2000LXS, the Albatros will benefits from very good low speed low altitude handling for rescue operations, while still being able to loiter a long time at high altitude for search tasks. The performance and reliability of its PW308C engines also enable quick “boom and zoom”, when the aircraft alternates low altitude visual inspection phases and high altitude radar/optical wide scan.
Production in India
For their construction, as previously reported by Naval News, the first three aircraft are being built in France at Dassault Aviation’s main production facility in Bordeaux-Mérignac. However the four following airframes will be assembled in India. Dassault Aviation has planned to transfer the Falcon 2000 assembly line from Mérignac to Nagpur, in the new factory of Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited (DRAL). Note that all the airframes produced in Nagpur will fly to Mérignac in order to be converted to military standard.
To learn more about AVSIMAR program, check out our in-depth feature:
