Dassault Aviation Space

Dassault Aviation Space represents the space technology dimensions of Dassault Aviation (Euronext: AM), France's iconic aircraft manufacturer founded in 1929 and responsible for the Rafale fighter, Falcon business jets, and Mirage series — but also a significant player in space through its majority ownership stake in Dassault Systèmes (approximately 40%), the world's leading 3D design software company whose 3DEXPERIENCE and CATIA platforms underpin spacecraft design and manufacturing at virtually every major space prime contractor.

Dassault Systèmes' CATIA is the aerospace industry's de facto standard for 3D spacecraft design: Airbus, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, ArianeGroup, and virtually every satellite manufacturer uses CATIA for structural design, mechanism layout, and manufacturing drawings. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform extends CATIA to a cloud-collaborative environment where spacecraft teams across multiple countries can work on a shared digital twin of a satellite or launch vehicle — a transformation in how large international space programs are managed.

Beyond software, Dassault Aviation itself has supplied military drones and aircraft to the French Ministry of Armed Forces that operate in conjunction with military satellite intelligence systems, and has participated in studies for space vehicles including reentry vehicles and hypersonic systems. Dassault Systèmes also owns Simulia (FEA/CFD simulation tools widely used for spacecraft thermal and structural analysis), SolidWorks (CAD for smaller satellite manufacturers and startups), and Biovia (life sciences simulation that could apply to space medicine).

The Dassault Group's space relevance therefore spans two dimensions: Dassault Systèmes as the software backbone of global spacecraft design, and Dassault Aviation as a defense aerospace prime with strategic interest in space-enabled military capabilities.