Pierre Tran, you talked about discussions for the demonstrator. Can you give us more details, the demonstrator for which you're sharing the manufacturing? No details. To manufacture an aircraft fighter demonstrator, we have to decide on who makes what. For the moment, we have had common studies. Each one has his responsibilities or about these studies. It's phase I, it's still not completed, and now we have to finalize the discussion on who's going to do what. But I won't tell you more for this moment. D o you have a schedule? We have a phase II that should begin in 2026, so that's theory. If you look, there are political schedules for 2027, et cetera, and we'll see if the countries around the table can mobilize their policies and obtain authorizations.
You know, in Germany, it's the Bundestag that decides, and here again, we will need an executive for the execution of the military program law. So theoretically, it's 2026. And you have observed this uncertainty in France since a few weeks. A few more months of uncertainty, what do you think? I don't know. I can tell you for the next few weeks. Ahead of us, I don't know. We will wait to see what the President of the Republic will say tonight. There'll probably be a truce during the Olympic Games, but it's in September that we will really have to know what's gonna happen, which government, what program for the government, what measures, what laws. There's no absolute majority in Parliament, so what relative majority can govern the country for the coming months and years?
It is a concern for us, industrialists in general, because, well, we at Dassault Aviation, we are protected. We have a family that is investing its money in the Dassault Aviation tool, but for the others, it's not the same. According to the investors, according to the taxation, the changes in the tax laws, standards, we've been going through this for months. We will see how investors will behave. Family investors, mainly because here at UIMM, it's 90% of SMEs, a lot of family companies, and they're all worried. And the others, these are foreign investors, and they can be worried, too. And, you know, when people worry, they don't spend. You might have seen next to the Channel, there is an uncertainty on the Tempest project. What do you think about that? Yeah, I saw that. I saw the presentation of their mock-up. I reread the statements.
They're trying to promote their aircraft, and we felt some reservations on whether it's gonna be launched or not, but it's up to them to answer your questions. It's not up to me. Can you go back on the supply chain? Because that's a major issue, and are you confident about the fact that you will deliver and you Can you confirm your net sales? And if you look further, can you go back on the schedule of deliveries of export Rafales, what could lead us to increase our net sales next year? So to answer your second question, we're not guiding the future deliveries. As you know, I'm saying it again, we have a full backlog, a full order book, and for the Rafale, our orders have been signed, so we have to deliver on time. That's what we're doing until today.
We had a little bit of delay for our aircraft last year. We were trying to keep up with this pace. We have a lot of aircraft to deliver in the coming years. We're in the middle of it all. We have to check our subcontractors and ourselves. We shouldn't underestimate that the disorganizations, because of what is missing, this has caused some catch-up plans which are difficult to implement, and we have to be careful about that. But I'm optimistic. I think that we'll be able to deliver all the Rafales in our orders, and I'm ready to take in new orders, so that should reassure you. And as for our subcontractors, well, we have teams that go to our subcontractors that help them do their jobs because there are difficulties with labor, with process.
In the negotiations we have with them, we try to help them, too. We can make prepayments so that the working capital requirements are covered. That's the role of the banks, but, you know, with the inflation that skyrocketed, banks were a bit more tense. We have the funds, the fund that we set up, the Aerofund, with the four major partners, who are Airbus, Thales, Safran, and ourselves. And we have funds that will allow us to increase the equity of some companies so that we can face this ramping up. This is not only at Dassault, but it's also at Airbus. So we have all kinds of resources, but we're in the middle. It's slightly harder for the Falcon-...
To tell you the truth, because we have an additional factory in the U.S., in Little Rock, and when the aircraft is still not yet fully completed and we send it there, we have to continue making certain changes. There are delays, we use the equipment in the U.S. and from France. It's creating a lot of disorder. It's going to go on for some more time. I hope that the current situation won't get worse for all our suppliers, though, and I'm saying this without really knowing what's going to happen in the future. But if the investors are hesitating, that's not very positive. There has to be stability in all our measures so that the investors might want to invest. So we're right in the middle of it all right now. And as for the Falcon total sales, you're talking about the American elections.
Is that a risk? As for the Falcon market, we've made a bet. We're going to keep selling Falcon 2000 and 8X, but our bet is to sell a lot of 6X, and in the future, a lot of 10X's. So, this is a turning point right now with the older range and the very modern range. It was difficult for us to develop these two aircraft at the same time. There was the COVID in the middle of it all. We had the difficulties with the supply chain, but we are very happy to have these two aircraft in our portfolio. We hope that this will boost our sales in the coming years. And don't you think that the elections might slow down things on the market?
You know, we are always afraid of all kinds of things when you're at the top of a company. We don't have the choice. So we will have problems. We will have other problems, too. What worries me most right now is the local environment in France. Good evening. As for the combat drones, what is the positioning of your project, considering the FCAS? Is it a question of export? And as for the FCAS - For the drones? Well, what is your - The beginning of your question, you were asking a question on the drones? Yeah. As for the drone, it's not in the FCAS. There are small drones in the FCAS, which are the remote carriers, small support drones, but that's part of the studies. We are just carrying out the technological studies, and there are demonstrations for the FCAS small drones.
What we are proposing to France is a combat drone, which will accompany the Rafale with the standard F5, and it will be ready by 2030. So it is totally unrelated to the FCAS. And as for the SCAF demonstrator, don't you think that we're in the fog? Because this, it was a difficult project. We do not know what the users wish to have. I've noticed a few details. Your partner, Airbus, the CEO, was questioned by the press very lengthily, and they didn't talk about the FCAS at all. And here at Dassault, you are living in peace with the FCAS. Now, your German partner is busy by other affairs, by the future elections, and they're not talking much about that either.
The FCAS SCAF partners are not stimulated by the British competition, because this morning at Farnborough, we saw a picture of their aircraft, and a lot of people in Saint-Cloud must have smiled at that. Well, we are committed with a contract to carry out demonstration studies. That's phase I- B. We're doing that job, honestly. As always, at Dassault, when we say we're going to do something, we do it. We are preparing ourselves to the phase II to manufacture the demonstrator, but we are far from saying that we're going to launch a new program, a new combat aircraft, a new system, et cetera. But we'll see. We have a lot of work to do on the Rafale, as I've indicated, with the future standards, with the development of a combat drone. We're beginning these studies on the F5. We have a certain number of topics.
We'll see what the states will decide, because it's up to the different countries to decide. We are trying to drive things further, and we're doing the work because we've signed the contracts. T here'll be further discussions and further discussions and negotiations and further contracts signed, and we'll see how all this will evolve. The British, we haven't smiled because we have a lot of work, and we're not looking on the other side of the challenge to see what's happening there. One thing is certain, is that this aircraft will not fit on an aircraft carrier.
... I'll finish with the last word. This plane will not go on the aircraft carrier. It seems that it's the closing statement. This aircraft won't be fit for an aircraft carrier. No, NGF will have to be fitted on an aircraft carrier. Now, regarding Cergy, that's another question. Selecting Cergy in the Paris area is coming as a surprise, while everybody is going to Bordeaux or Toulouse for production facilities. What was the driver for this decision? And I've understood that the transfers from Argenteuil were to be made, and that's my next question. You didn't mention this. Is it going to help ramp up the manufacturing pace of the Rafales? Once again, about Cergy, it seems to me that you have been forced to plant a whole forest to justify the CO2 emissions of this plant.
I 1,000 hectares, I read. Is it going to calm down the greens and the ecologists, and that they're going to stop bashing business aviation? Final question about Cergy. What's going to happen at Argenteuil once the transfer is completed? No, well, we had a modernizing project. It was primary pieces which were to be manufactured. We needed to upgrade our manufacturing tool. It's always very complex to do that as you work, so we've had some modernization and upgrading projects which were completed, and we could have said, "Well, we close Argenteuil, and let's go to Mérignac or, or, or Biarritz or elsewhere." But then we would have had to discuss it with the workers' representatives. The skills were mainly located in Argenteuil, so we decided to go for a 50/50 solution. So the primary pieces went to Seclin.
It's a beautiful plant, which was also upgraded. Well, a lot of upgrading works were made there, so the big pieces are manufactured there. Few people followed suit, so we've had to recruit locally. Many people went to Bordeaux for the engineering studies, but it were most difficult to have our employees from Argenteuil to go to Seclin. And now we have this small, modern plant with the assembly capacity for the Rafale fuselage, which is the sensitive part which is done in Argenteuil. This was done in consultation with workers' representatives. It was an open and well-run dialogue with them, and everybody is happy to have a more modern plant and facility. And it was easier. It's smaller, and it's more modern.
Now, as to the trees what were planted, we decided to do it because it's part of our CSR policy. We say, "Well, since we are in the aeronautics sector, we manufacture plants, we build up plants." We also wanted to have some trees planted in Mérignac. It's mandatory. We cut down trees in Mérignac to build and modernize the plant in Mérignac to produce more and to recruit more people, so we've had to plant trees. It's an obligation. In Val-d'Oise, in Cergy, it was not an obligation. It was a deliberate CSR decision on our side. And also, all this is well understood by our employees. What's going to happen, Argenteuil? Ask me the question again in January, so... It's no longer the problem at Dassault Aviation, jokingly.
No, we have one year to remediate the site because we're not going to leave brownfields in Argenteuil, so we will have to clean up the area. This surface area will be handed back to GIMD once we will have fully depolluted, decontaminated, and remediated the site in Argenteuil. Then it will be GIMD to see what they want to do with it. Some discussions are underway with the mayor of Argenteuil. These discussions are not always easy, to tell you the truth, but it's no longer my remit. But it might, you know, come back to me later, so I'm careful about it. Pierre Tran. Pierre Tran, once again. As a shareholder, what about a 5% drop in the stock price of Thales this morning, further to their business result?
Well, I'll be careful because I don't know whether Dassault is going to go up and down tomorrow, depending on what we're going to talk about today. I'll tell you the truth, I believe in Thales, so stock price goes down slightly, the market is slightly disappointed, maybe a cash position. This is what my financial people say. No, the value of Thales, the stock price is rather good. From where I stand, we're very pleased with our investment in Thales. We cash in dividends, 50% of the net income comes from Thales, and it's a company that is growing with a growing operating margin. I will encourage the market to invest in Thales. No problem if it goes down slightly. Now, the Rafale production, this is 3 aircraft per month this year.
Well, it's always the same answer that I will give you. If you consider Seclin, it's more than 3 for some instances, but it's more complicated for the final assembly. It's just like the Lego. When a small brick is missing, then it's more difficult to move up to 3 at Mérignac. So, this year it's been on the rise. We have 20 aircraft to deliver, so it's not a pace of 3 per month, but rather 2. So, we'll be ramping up the upstream plans for the primary pieces of equipment, and our subcontractors are getting ready to deliver the Rafale as per our contract's requirements, and we still have the capacity to take in new contracts. So the production pace, the problem is mainly at the final stage of the assembly. 2023, you had planned to 1, 1 extra aircraft.
Whether there was some delay? That's what I said. Indeed, there was a slight delay. It was not such a big delay. Taking up Pierre's question, as a shareholder, would you be favorable, is there any strategic interest? Are there any discussions as to Thales and Airbus getting closer for this purpose? No, no. No comment about this. I won't make any comment. No comment doesn't mean that you're not allowed to ask any further questions, of course. Okay. Well, thank you for coming and for attending this half yearly results. Have a nice holiday. We won't take many holidays, because September is going to be a very busy month. Thank you, and hope to see you soon again.