ATL-2 Atlantique

The Dassault Atlantique 2 (ATL2) is a twin-turboprop maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare aircraft built by Dassault Aviation for the French Navy. A redeveloped version of the Breguet Br.1150 Atlantic, it entered service in 1991 and is used for anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, maritime surveillance, and overland ISR and ground-strike missions. France is the sole operator.

Development

In 1978 the French government authorised the Atlantic Nouvelle Génération, an updated Br.1150 Atlantic. It was later renamed Atlantique 2 because no other nations ordered it. Dassault had acquired the design through its 1970s merger with Breguet. Two prototypes were converted from existing Atlantics, and the first flew on 8 May 1981. Production was authorised on 24 May 1984 and deliveries began in 1989. Twenty-eight were built against an original requirement for 42.

A 2007 avionics renovation brought the aircraft into line with ICAO standards. In 2013 the DGA ordered a €700 million upgrade for 15 of the 22 aircraft then in service. In 2018 this was expanded to 18 aircraft, plus obsolescence work on four surveillance-only airframes, for €845 million. The first Standard 6 aircraft was delivered in 2019 and the eighteenth in February 2026, extending service to around 2035. In early 2025 France selected the Airbus A321MPA as the ATL2 replacement, choosing it over a military Falcon 10X proposed by Dassault.

Design

The ATL2 keeps most of the Atlantic airframe. The "double-bubble" fuselage has a pressurised upper crew compartment and a lower lobe with a 9 m weapons bay and aft sonobuoy tubes. Power comes from two 4,500 kW Rolls-Royce Tyne RTy.20 Mk 21 turboprops. The crew numbers 12, and maximum takeoff weight is 46,200 kg. Maximum speed is 648 km/h and endurance is 18 hours. A standard 12-hour sortie allows eight hours of patrol 500 nmi from base.

New systems at introduction included:

• DRAA-10B Iguane radar, which detects a submarine snorkel at 30 nmi and a merchant ship at 120 nmi
• a new sonar processor and tactical computer
• a nose-mounted FLIR turret
• a digital data bus

Standard 6 adds the Thales Searchmaster AESA radar, derived from the Rafale's RBE2. It has an air-to-sea range of up to 200 nmi and can track 1,000 targets. The upgrade also adds:

• the STAN digital acoustic subsystem, compatible with current US sonobuoys in multistatic mode
• LOTI-NG mission software
• digital operator consoles
• a Wescam MX-20 electro-optical turret

Armament

All stores are carried internally, up to 3,500 kg. Loads include up to two AM39 Exocet missiles or eight Mk 46 or MU90 Impact torpedoes, with one Exocet plus three torpedoes as a mixed option. Depth charges, mines, and SAMAR or SATER rescue containers can also be carried.

Since July 2008 the ATL2 has been able to carry four GBU-12 Paveway II bombs. Before Standard 6, the target had to be designated by another aircraft, a UAV, or ground controllers. The MX-20 turret now allows autonomous designation, and GBU-58 bombs are also cleared. The first operational MU90 firing took place in June 2015.

Operational History

The fleet has logged more than 100,000 flight hours. In 2009, aircraft deployed to Dakar to search for Air France Flight 447.

During Operation Serval in Mali in 2013, ATL2s flew ISR missions and dropped GBU-12s on militant positions. In Opération Chammal, the ATL2 first flew ISTAR and forward air control missions. On 19 August 2015 it made its first strike of the operation, dropping a GBU-12 on a command-and-control building. It later flew reconnaissance over Syria from the UAE.

In January 2025, two ATL2s flew 7,800 nmi to Indonesia to support the Charles de Gaulle carrier strike group during mission Clemenceau 25. In 2026 an ATL2 attended the International Fleet Review at Visakhapatnam. Germany considered the type in 1992, and France later offered to lend it four Standard 6 aircraft, but Germany ordered the P-8A in 2021.

Variants

• Atlantique 2 prototypes: Two Atlantics converted to the new standard, the first flying on 8 May 1981.
• ATL2 (Standard 5): The production version with the Iguane radar and LOTI software, of which 28 were built.
• ATL2 Standard 6: An upgrade of 18 aircraft with the Searchmaster radar, STAN, LOTI-NG and the MX-20 turret, delivered from 2019 to 2026.
• Atlantique 3: A proposed 1990s development with a two-crew glass cockpit and Allison AE2100H engines, withdrawn from the RAF competition in 1996 and never built.