On December 22, 2022, the French Defense Procurement Agency (DGA) commissioned manufacturers Airbus Defence and Space and Dassault Aviation to conduct two architecture studies for the future maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) based on one of its aircraft: A320neo for Airbus Defence and Space and Falcon 10X for Dassault Aviation, for an amount of €10.9 million (including taxes) allocated per study to each manufacturer.
Avion de patrouille maritime (MPA): pour répondre au contrat d'étude d'architecture attribuée par la @DGA, Airbus a présenté le projet #A320MPA.
Parmi la large gamme d'avions d’Airbus, cette solution est la plus à même de répondre à l’ensemble des missions de la Marine nationale. pic.twitter.com/Cc22wKxFPS— Airbus Defence (@AirbusDefence) January 12, 2023
Each aircraft manufacturer will have to propose an economically interesting solution that meets the operational needs of the French Navy for the post-2030 horizon. These solutions must remain open to cooperation with other potentially interested European partners. The innovations analyzed during these studies could regard the improvement of sensors, means of communication, the introduction of a logic based on artificial intelligence (AI) or the integration of new armament, in particular the future anti-ship missile under development by MBDA.
This work, scheduled to last 18 months, will help define the future maritime patrol aircraft to replace the Atlantique 2. Once one of the platforms has been selected, the program will be formally launched in 2026, with a view to deploying the new aircraft during the 2030s and 2040s.
Continuation of the failed MAWS program
The Franco-German program for a Maritime Airborne Warfare System (MAWS), which was to replace the German P-3 Orion and French Breguet Atlantique 2 with a new aircraft, was cancelled by France, following Germany’s tacit abandonment.
Germany had initially decided to modernize its fleet of 8 P-3Cs, acquired from the Netherlands in 2006 and operated by the Marineflieger (the air arm of the German Navy). Meanwhile, France was executing its own modernization program for its Breguet Atlantique 2 (ATL2). Both nations had committed to develop a new airborne maritime combat system, which would not only include the aircraft, but would add drones, satellites, etc, all integrated, with the Airbus proposal for an A320neo MPA being the strongest candidate to succeed the P-3 and ATL2.
However, Germany decided to abandon the modernization of its P-3 and instead, to acquire 12 P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft from the American company Boeing, giving the MAWS the death blow.
The long-serving Atlantique 2
The maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) mission is currently carried out by a fleet of 22 Atlantique 2 (ATL2) aircraft operated by the French Navy from the Lann-Bihoué naval air base. It will be complemented by 12 Dassault Aviation Falcon 2000LXS converted into maritime surveillance aircraft, ordered in 2020.
Of the Atlantique 2s ordered in the early 1990s, 18 are being upgraded by Dassault Aviation to receive new technologies in terms of tactical mission systems, sensor subsystems and display consoles. The French Navy is due to receive its last upgraded ATL2 during 2024.
