Dassault Aviation invests in Harmattan AI at €1.4 billion value

PARIS — Dassault Aviation, the French maker of the Rafale fighter jet, led a €200 million ($234 million) funding round by autonomous drone maker Harmattan AI as part of a strategic partnership, valuing the Paris-based startup at €1.4 billion and creating France’s first defense unicorn.

The partnership will help Harmattan develop embedded artificial intelligence for Dassault Aviation’s future air combat systems, such as the future F5 standard of the Rafale, in particular for control of unmanned aerial systems, the companies said in a joint statement on Monday.

The deal comes as France, Germany and Spain are struggling to move forward with plans for a joint Future Combat Air System, with infighting between Dassault Aviation and Airbus about work share and project authority. FCAS is meant to combine a next-generation fighter with unmanned aircraft and drone carriers.

“This is excellent news for our strategic autonomy, for the technological superiority of our armed forces in the field of AI-activated defense drones, as well as for our economy,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a post on X , calling the partnership between the two companies “essential.”

Macron had planned to meet with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in December to resolve differences in the FCAS program by the end of 2025, but Paris and Berlin haven’t made any public announcements on the topic since.

“This partnership with Harmattan AI reflects our commitment to integrating high-value autonomy into the next generation of combat air systems,” Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier said in the statement. “We reinforce our ability to deliver the advanced capabilities required by our armed forces in the decades ahead.”

Trappier has said that France, through Dassault Aviation and its partners Safran and Thales, has the technological ability to develop a next-generation fighter aircraft on its own if necessary.

The valuation in the latest series B funding “significantly increases” from a previous series A funding, in part due to growing interest from major industrial players, Harmattan said in an emailed response to questions.

The startup declined to identify other investors in the latest funding round for now, nor the size of Dassault’s investment. French investment firm Motier Ventures said it renewed its investment in the company, in a LinkedIn post.

Harmattan currently has more than 130 employees, with a median experience of 15 years, according to the company, which in the past year hired executives from companies including Safran and Isar Aerospace.

Dassault is working on an air-combat drone that will serve as an unmanned wingman for the future F5 standard Rafale, and the partnership with Harmattan will support development of embedded AI for both aircraft, the companies said. The partnership fits in an “overarching strategy” to integrate sovereign AI into Dassault Aviation’s combat systems, according to the statement.

Harmattan will use proceeds from the latest funding round to expand deployment of its AI-enabled products and scale industrial manufacturing of its platforms for intelligence, search and reconnaissance, drone interception and electronic warfare, according to the statement.

The deal with Dassault “marks a decisive step in the emergence of a new generation of autonomous defense systems,” Harmattan AI CEO and co-founder Mouad M’Ghari said in the statement. “By combining frontier AI with world-class military aviation expertise, we are shaping the future of collaborative air combat.”

Harmattan was founded in April 2024, and is working on what it calls “vertically integrated autonomous systems,” including layered air defenses, coordinated autonomous surveillance and strike drones, electronic-warfare products and command-and-control platforms. The company previously raised $42 million in early-stage funding from investors including venture capital firms FirstMark and Atlantic VC, according to Sifted.

The startup in September won an order from the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence to provide as many as 3,000 autonomous drones, following a June order from France’s Armed Forces Ministry for delivery of 1,000 combat drones by the end of 2025.

The Harmattan craft supplied to the French forces last year was a quadcopter drone with a weight of 1.8 kilograms and 40 minutes of flight time, equipped with infrared cameras supplied by French firm Lynred.

Editor’s note: This story was updated with a statement from Harmattan.

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

巴黎——法国阵风战斗机制造商达索航空领投了自主无人机制造商 Harmattan AI 的 2 亿欧元（2.34 亿美元）融资，这是双方战略合作的一部分，使这家总部位于巴黎的初创公司估值达到 14 亿欧元，并创造了法国第一家国防独角兽企业。

两家公司周一在一份联合声明中表示，此次合作将帮助哈马坦为达索航空未来的空中作战系统（例如未来的阵风F5标准）开发嵌入式人工智能，特别是用于控制无人机系统。

这项交易达成之际，法国、德国和西班牙正艰难推进联合未来作战空中系统（FCAS）计划，达索航空和空客之间就工作分工和项目权限问题争执不下。FCAS旨在将下一代战斗机与无人机和无人机载体相结合。

法国总统埃马纽埃尔·马克龙在 X 上发帖称：“这对我们的战略自主性、我国武装部队在人工智能激活防御无人机领域的技术优势以及我国经济来说都是极好的消息”，并称两家公司之间的合作“至关重要”。

马克龙原计划在 12 月与德国总理弗里德里希·默茨会面，以期在 2025 年底前解决 FCAS 计划的分歧，但此后巴黎和柏林都没有就此话题发表任何公开声明。

达索航空首席执行官埃里克·特拉皮耶在声明中表示：“与哈马坦人工智能公司的合作体现了我们致力于将高价值自主技术融入下一代作战空中系统的决心。这增强了我们为未来几十年武装部队提供所需先进能力的实力。”

特拉皮耶表示，法国通过达索航空公司及其合作伙伴赛峰集团和泰雷兹集团，拥有自主研发下一代战斗机的技术能力，如有必要的话。

哈马坦在回复邮件中表示，最新一轮 B 轮融资的估值较之前的 A 轮融资“显著提高”，部分原因是主要工业参与者的兴趣日益浓厚。

这家初创公司目前拒绝透露最新一轮融资的其他投资者身份，也未透露达索系统投资的具体金额。法国投资公司 Motier Ventures 在领英上发帖称，已续签了对该公司的投资协议。

据该公司称，Harmattan 目前拥有 130 多名员工，平均工作经验为 15 年。该公司在过去一年中从 Safran 和 Isar Aerospace 等公司聘请了高管。

达索公司正在研发一款空战无人机，该无人机将作为未来F5标准型“阵风”战斗机的无人僚机。两家公司表示，与哈马坦公司的合作将支持两款飞机嵌入式人工智能的开发。声明称，此次合作符合达索航空将自主研发的人工智能技术融入其作战系统的“总体战略”。

根据声明，Harmattan 将利用最新一轮融资所得资金扩大其人工智能产品的部署，并扩大其用于情报、搜索和侦察、无人机拦截和电子战的平台的工业化生产规模。

Harmattan AI首席执行官兼联合创始人穆阿德·姆加里在声明中表示，与达索公司的合作“标志着新一代自主防御系统崛起迈出了决定性的一步”。“通过将前沿人工智能与世界一流的军事航空技术相结合，我们正在塑造未来协同空战的格局。”

Harmattan成立于2024年4月，致力于研发其所谓的“垂直整合自主系统”，包括多层防空系统、协同自主监视和攻击无人机、电子战产品以及指挥控制平台。据Sifted数据显示，该公司此前已从包括FirstMark和Atlantic VC在内的风险投资公司处筹集了4200万美元的早期融资。

这家初创公司在 9 月份赢得了英国国防部的订单，将提供多达 3000 架自主无人机；此前，该公司在 6 月份获得了法国武装部队部的订单，将在 2025 年底前交付 1000 架作战无人机。

去年提供给法国军队的 Harmattan 无人机是一款四旋翼无人机，重 1.8 公斤，飞行时间为 40 分钟，配备了法国 Lynred 公司提供的红外摄像机。

编者按：本文已更新，添加了哈马坦的声明。

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。