France has completed a major upgrade to its navy-operated fleet of Dassault-Breguet ATL-2 maritime patrol aircraft (MPA), with the type expected to remain in operational use until a replacement capability enters service by 2035.

Delivered to Lann-Bihoue air base near Lorient, Brittany in mid-February, the modernised surveillance asset has been brought up to the ATL-2’s Standard 6 configuration.

Completed by France’s SIAe maintenance organisation, work included integrating Thales’s Searchmaster active electronically scanned array radar, along with updates to the platform’s “tactical mission system, sensor subsystems and display consoles”, the nation’s DGA defence procurement body says.

“Focusing on the ATL-2 combat system, it aims to enable the aircraft be used operationally after 2030 with increased performance,” the DGA adds.

The French navy operates a 22-strong fleet of ATL-2s, which aviation analytics company Cirium records as having been in use for between 28 and 35 years. Of that total, 18 examples have been brought up to the Standard 6 level.

France plans to replace its current MPA capability via the ‘Patmar Futur’ project, with Airbus Defence & Space under contract to study a derivative of the A321XLR narrowbody for the role. Work under that two-year activity – which also involves sensor provider Thales – is due to conclude in early February 2027.

Airbus has described the future platform as to be suitable for employment during anti-submarine and anti-ship warfare duties, and for intelligence-gathering tasks.