The French Armament General Directorate (Direction générale de l’armement – DGA) has officially delivered the first two Falcon 2000LXS Albatros maritime surveillance and intervention aircraft to the French Navy (Marine nationale). Handed over on July 27 and 31, 2026, the platforms are now stationed with Flottille 24F at the Lann-Bihoué naval air station.
The milestone follows a rigorous development path that began with the aircraft’s maiden flight on January 24, 2025, at Dassault Aviation’s Bordeaux-Mérignac facility. Following successful flight testing and certification campaigns overseen by the DGA at Istres, the aircraft arrived at Lann-Bihoué to undergo military evaluations by the CEPA 10/S naval aviation experimentation center.
The AVSIMAR (Avions de Surveillance et d’Intervention Maritime) program covers a total of 12 aircraft ordered across two batches—an initial seven in December 2020 and an additional five in September 2025. They will replace legacy fleets of Falcon 50M and Falcon 200 Gardian aircraft.
Derived from Dassault’s civilian Falcon 2000LXS, the Albatros delivers a dramatic performance boost over its predecessors. Equipped with efficient Pratt & Whitney PW308C engines, the aircraft offers a 4,000-nautical-mile range and a 7-hour patrol endurance at 200 nautical miles from the coast. This capability more than doubles the operational range of legacy platforms like the Falcon 200 Gardian, allowing the Albatros to seamlessly connect distant French command zones, such as New Caledonia and Tahiti in the Pacific.
The aircraft’s tactical edge lies in its advanced avionics and sensor package. Its chin mounted radome houses Thales’ SearchMaster active antenna X-band radar—sharing commonality with the upgraded Atlantique 2 maritime patrol aircraft—paired with Safran’s EuroFLIR 410 electro-optical/infrared system. Unlike international variants like those used by the Japanese Coast Guard, the Albatros features a customized mission system integrated by French shipbuilder Naval Group. Furthermore, it integrates state-of-the-art inertial navigation systems (INS), anti-jamming GPS, SATCOM connectivity, and an L22 data-link to operate effectively in contested environments.
Retaining traditional Search and Rescue (SAR) capabilities, the Albatros can deploy life rafts and smoke markers directly from its cabin. Its design also preserves excellent low-speed, low-altitude handling characteristics essential for close-range visual inspection and rescue coordination.
A third Albatros delivery is expected by the end of 2026, with subsequent rollouts continuing at a rate of two per year. While the current 12-aircraft phase fulfills overall intervention requirements, a planned second phase will introduce complementary assets, including drones, to achieve total surveillance coverage.
