As part of the future replacement program for the French Navy’s Atlantique 2 maritime patrol aircraft, the Directorate General for Armaments announced that it had notified two system architecture studies on December 22. As expected, they were awarded to Airbus Defense and Space and Dassault Aviation, the two aircraft manufacturers positioning themselves on this project with their respective aircraft. In both cases, it is an adaptation of a civilian platform to maritime patrol missions that is proposed: the A320neo for Airbus and the new Falcon 10X from Dassault.
Each manufacturer was notified of a study worth 10.9 million euros and lasting 18 months. “Each aircraft manufacturer will have to offer an economically attractive solution that meets the operational needs of the French Navy in the post-2030 horizon. These solutions should remain open to cooperation with other potentially interested European partners. The innovations studied during these studies may relate to the improvement of sensors, means of communication, the introduction of logic based on artificial intelligence or the integration of armaments, in particular the future anti-ship missile. specifies the DGA.
The anti-ship missile in question is the future weapon to be developed within the framework of the Franco-British FC/ASW program aimed at succeeding in the 2030s to the Exocet anti-ship missile (in its sea-sea and air-sea versions) but also to the Scalp EG/Storm Shadow airborne cruise missiles. In addition to this armament, future maritime patrol aircraft must be able to carry, like the Atlantique 2, light torpedoes (MU90) and all the sensors necessary for their main missions: anti-submarine warfare, anti-ship warfare and combat operations. reconnaissance and intelligence, or even attack, above land operations theaters, which implies a bomb-carrying capacity. The main sensors will be a