New Artificial Intelligence Takes Flight on Dassault Aviation’s Rafale
(Saint-Cloud, France, September 22, 2026) – Dassault Aviation has flight-tested two new sovereign AI algorithms on the Rafale fighter jet. The first was developed by the company’s engineers, while the second was developed in collaboration with Thales/cortAIx.
The development of these new functions is part of a broader initiative to integrate controlled and supervised AI into the cockpit, serving the human crew. They have reached a level of maturity that makes them eligible for future Rafale upgrades.
The in-flight testing of these functions once again demonstrates Dassault Aviation’s expertise in integrating AI into combat systems. This capability requires mastering several key challenges specific to military aviation: ensuring the availability and quality of operational data (real or simulated), leveraging and synergizing domain expertise, and optimizing resource efficiency on an embedded platform subject to stringent constraints.
These challenges are at the heart of Dassault Aviation’s experience as an industrial architect and integrator of complex systems for decades.
About Dassault Aviation
With over 10,000 military and civil aircraft (including 2,800 Falcons) delivered in more than 90 countries over the past 110 years, Dassault Aviation has built up expertise recognized worldwide in the design, production, sale and support of all types of aircraft, ranging from the Rafale fighter, to the high-end Falcon family of business jets, military drones and space systems. In 2025, Dassault Aviation had about 15,000 employees and reported revenues of € 7.4 billion.
Stéphane Fort
+33 (0)1 47 11 86 90
stephane.fort@dassault-aviation.com
Mathieu Durand
+33 (0)1 47 11 85 88
mathieu.durand@dassault-aviation.com
