Dassault Aviation and Airbus join forces on Future Combat Air System

• Landmark agreement to develop and produce Europe's next generation combat aircraft
• Fosters European high-tech leadership in the military aviation sector for decades to come

Future Combat Air System to be developed as a system of systems, including unmanned aerial vehicles, connectivity and secure communications

Next generation fighter aircraft to complement and eventually replace current generation of Eurofighter and Rafale fighter aircraft by 2035-2040

Overall development contract to be launched to follow study and to include demonstrators to support FCAS planned as of 2025

Berlin, 25 April 2018 - Dassault Aviation (stock exchange symbol: AM) and Airbus (stock exchange symbol: AIR) have decided to join forces for the development and production of Europe's Future Combat Air System (FCAS), which is slated to complement and eventually replace current generation of Eurofighter and Rafale fighter aircraft between 2035 and 2040.

The partnership, sealed in Berlin by Eric Trappier, Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation  and Dirk Hoke, Airbus Defence and Space Chief Executive Officer (CEO) , represents a landmark industrial agreement to secure European sovereignty and technological leadership in the military aviation sector for the coming decades.

Eric Trappier, Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation, said: "We are convinced that by deploying our joint expertise, Dassault Aviation and Airbus can best meet the operational requirements of the Forces in the development of this critically important European programme. Both companies fully intend to work together in the most pragmatic and efficient manner. Our joint roadmap will include proposals to develop demonstrators for the FCAS programme as of 2025. I am convinced that European sovereignty and strategic autonomy can and will only be ensured through independent European solutions. The vision that France and Germany have set forth with FCAS is a bold one and it's an important signal in, and for, Europe. The FCAS programme will strengthen the political and military ties between Europe's core nations and it will reinvigorate its aerospace industry."