French Aerospace Giant Dassault Aviation Forms Strategic Partnership with Harmattan AI to Accelerate Autonomy and AI Integration in Defense Technologies
French aerospace giant Dassault Aviation has signed a strategic partnership with Harmattan AI to accelerate the integration of autonomy and artificial intelligence (AI) in defense technologies. Dassault Aviation is leading the initiative’s $200 million Series B funding round, aiming to fast-track the integration of controlled autonomy technologies into air combat systems.
Artificial Intelligence on the Operational Field and Mass Production
Harmattan AI, with its autonomous systems portfolio, has already received numerous “Program of Record” awards from the French and UK Ministries of Defense. This substantial investment will be used to expand AI-assisted missions to new operational domains, support industrial-scale mass production of ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance), drone interception, and Electronic Warfare (EW) platforms.
AI Integration for Rafale F5 and Future UAV Systems
This strategic partnership aims to enhance Dassault Aviation’s control capabilities, particularly for the Rafale F5 standard and future Unmanned Combat Air Systems (UCAS), through advanced embedded AI capabilities developed by Harmattan AI. As part of the collaboration, a sovereign and controllable AI architecture will be created to support the autonomous management of unmanned aerial vehicles in complex operational environments. This integration is expected to accelerate decision-support processes in next-generation air combat systems while maximizing platform survivability and mission effectiveness in high-intensity conflict zones.
Technological Sovereignty and Excellence
Eric Trappier, Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation, emphasized the importance of the partnership: “Dassault Aviation has always placed technological excellence and sovereignty at its core. This partnership with Harmattan AI reflects our commitment to integrating high-value autonomy into the next generation of combat air systems. By combining forces with an innovative company, we are strengthening our capacity to deliver advanced capabilities that our armed forces will need in the coming decades.”
Mouad M’Ghari, CEO of Harmattan AI, stated that Dassault’s leadership will accelerate their mission to provide scalable and sovereign AI capabilities to allied forces. Dassault Aviation will provide strategic support to the initiative through its system architecture expertise and global business development network.
Source: C4Defence / Dassault Aviation
