Welcome, welcome to this press conference for 2023. To tell you about the context, the context is very complicated with the war at the doors of Europe, the war in Ukraine, the conflict in the Middle East since last October, disruptions in supply chains and global trade, all the environmental challenges that are very important to prepare for the future. And this year, elections in the United States, Europe, India, Indonesia, it's done, and this could have an influence on our markets. Now, just to recall, as said in the film, 18 Rafales for Indonesia. This allowed us to have the 42 Rafale signed a few years ago. 18 Rafales, which are not in the official figures for 2023 because they were signed after December 31.
The highlights for this year, I think the film summarized it, the commercial success of the Rafale is being pursued. The entry into service of the Falcon 6X, which is very important for us. Difficulties in our deliveries, whether for the Falcon or Rafale, mainly Falcon, but Rafale too. A historic backlog with EUR 38.5 billion and a net income, which is a record income, EUR 886 million, and this is one of our best results in our company. Activities and programs, as you were saying, this is the Rafale moment. Since the beginning of the program, 495 aircraft have been ordered, including the 18 from Indonesia in January. That is 234 for France, 261 for exports. We are close to the 500.
We are close to what we had managed to do for the Mirage 2000, and we have many years ahead of us to pursue the success of the Rafale in exports. The decision of India to purchase 26 marine Rafale, this is still ahead, and we're going to keep taking orders, and we are still prospecting. So this gives us the hope to increase the number of orders. As said in the film, this will allow us to have a production of Rafale for a minimum 18 next year. 2023, the military procurement law, Dassault Aviation, is part of this programming with the production of Rafale, the delivery of Rafale to the French forces, especially the Air Force, because the marine has already been served. We have started the delivery of the 42. The 40 tranche or batch had been stopped for budgetary reasons.
Exports had taken over, and now we are beginning to deliver these 42 aircraft. It had begun last year. It will be pursued this year. There are the 12 aircraft that were ordered and budgeted in our military programming law that have replaced the Greek aircraft. We have the 42 + 12 aircraft to replace these aircraft that will be delivered to Croatia. We are also developing because here again, we've delivered the F4 standard. So for those who know, F4.2 and F4.3. So there are three sections. The first part has been delivered, the other two still remain to be delivered. We're going to obtain study contracts, design contracts, to prepare the F5 standard that will be ordered later on, but it's part of the military programming law.
We are developing definition designs for the FCAS and NGF, and in the military programming law, there's going to be a second phase. First, for the demonstrator flight of the NGF in 2029. There's the maritime patrol. We're going to ramp up the ATL2, and we're preparing the successor of the ATL2. We're proposing the Falcon 10X, which is in competition. These are our studies, and we will deliver during this military programming law, maritime surveillance Falcons, the Falcon 2000, therefore, and the Archange electronic war Falcons. So we are really part of this military programming law. Now, as for France, 2023, we ordered the 42 aircraft at the end of 2023, with deliveries planned between 2027 and 2032. Between now and 2027, there will be the deliveries of the 42 and the 40 plus.
That's the 12 + 12s to replace the ones for Greece. The deliveries for 2023, 11 Rafales were delivered for France, and as for the development of the F4 standard, this was also carried out in 2023, and we've begun the preparation of the F5 standard, and we should receive study order in 2024. The commercial success, Indonesia, 18 aircraft entered into service last summer. It's not the same as the 18 that were commissioned in January, so the orders for Indonesia equaled 36 in 2023. India, I've already talked about this.... In addition to these contracts for new aircraft, we've delivered to Greece six pre-owned Rafale coming from the French Air Force, and France delivered four Rafale aircraft to Croatia. These Rafale aircraft that we're going to support when they will be sent to Croatia from April onwards.
The support of the military fleets, this is keeping us busy, especially in France, considering the crisis and the war in Ukraine. There are requests to support this war economy, so therefore, there are assumptions and scenario on which we've worked with the French military staff to strengthen our support in this war economy. You know that we have vertical contracts for Rafale, Mirage 2000, and Atlantique 2. We've just signed one for the Alpha Jet. As for exports, we are supporting the fleets that have been delivered to Egypt, Qatar, India, and Greece. As for the FCAS, we are pursuing the phase 1B studies, that is the development of a demonstrator that is supposed to fly by 2029.
We are in phase 1B, that goes up to 2025, and we will need a phase 2 contract to realize this demonstrator in 2026. The teams are mainly working here in Saint-Cloud, in a plateau, in a design office with the people from Airbus, mainly from Germany and Spain, and of course, the Saint-Cloud Dassault teams. As for the Eurodrone, Airbus is the prime contractor. We are providing the air flight controls and the mission communication systems. As for the mission aircraft, we are pursuing our work on maritime surveillance with our friends from Thales, whether it's for the maritime surveillance or the strategic intelligence. So this is all the electronic equipment for maritime surveillance. We have delivered the seventh and last modified aircraft for the new ATL2 standard, and we've begun studies.
We're in competition with Airbus, that is supposed to propose its A320 with our Falcon 10X. As for exports, we've delivered two of the four Falcons ordered in 2022 to South Korea. We will deliver them green, that is empty, and Korea will equip these aircraft with their equipment. The Falcon range, we have received 23 Falcon orders in 2023, and delivered 26 aircraft. This shows a slowdown in sales, especially in Europe. The United States have done well in 2023, and I'll remind you that in 2023, we had higher order intakes, 64. So there are some years that are positive and other years that are not so positive. We can explain this drop because the 6X, and I'll talk about this later on, this was delayed because of the certification and because of the supply chain issues.
I'll tell you more of this later on. As for deliveries, we were hit by what we call supply chain issues, especially for the aerostructure, and here again, I will tell you more about this later on. So we are under our guidance for the delivery of Falcons. 26 instead of the 36 we had announced. 32 we had delivered last year. 2023, we should have delivered 6X. We delivered the first 6X last month. Certification of the Falcon 6X, we've reached an important step. The 6X was developed after the stopping of the 5X, and it is after the Boeing accidents, the certification agencies are more meticulous, and quite rightly so, to make sure that the passengers will be safe. So therefore, things are a bit more difficult, but this is very good news that 6X is certified.
It's a full aircraft that has been certified after the problems with the Boeing. Ongoing development of the Falcon 10X, I'll tell you more about this later on. This has been delayed because the delays in the 6X have had an influence on the 10X. As for the Taxonomy, you know that we are engaged, as said in the film, to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. Aviation altogether, that's 2% of the CO2 emissions. Business aviation is 2% of this 2%, so 0.04% of the global CO2 emissions, so we have to work on this, but everything is quite relative in life.
As a comparison, a year of use of our 2,000 and a few Falcons in service today, this is the equivalent of 24 hours of global video streaming, 5 hours of worldwide truck traffic, and it's equivalent to two and a half days of the German thermal power plants. So here again, it's all quite relative. People are interested in aviation, especially business aviation, rather than other domains that issue a lot more carbon. But we're working on this, and before telling you more about this, I just wanted to mention that the Taxonomy, that's the simplification, we are having standards, standards, and standards. So we are in the business aviation, and we are legally attacking the European Commission.
I'd like to mention that because we believe that in the wording of this taxonomy that says that those who are working on decarbonization should be included in the taxonomy. We are going faster than our friends from commercial aviation because we are using the SAFs rather than commercial aviation, and the ambitions of Europe on the use of SAF is much lower than what we're imposing on ourselves for our business aviation. So therefore, we believe that the taxonomy is to encourage, to decarbonize, and not punish those who use business aircraft, business jets. So for us, business jets, and that's also true for general aviation, we will see the results. I'd like to recall that in the U.S., we don't have all these problems. The U.S., they're trying to encourage.
They are really advancing and progressing in the decarbonization of their aviation, but they're doing it through by inviting them to do something, and we will see what will happen in our fight with the EU. Now, more positively, we're working on the SAFs. So we're working with 100% SAF in our future aircraft, whether it's with the 10X, because that's being developed, so it's easier to plan for that, with our people designing the engines, but also with the other aircraft, we'll be able to fly with 100% SAF in the future. We're already flying with sustainable aviation fuel in-house. In 2023, there were 413 flights for Dassault Aviation, and we did with 30% SAF, so therefore, a great saving of CO2.
It costs more, of course, but we've decided to go in this direction to show the example to those who use business jets. In technology, we're working on this integration at 100% in the future. We are participating in scientific programs to see what can be done in terms of decarbonization, what can be done technologically, with other things other than SAF. And the choice of clients to fly by saving fuel, this will be doable. It is programmed in the aircraft, and it will be according to the choice of the client and the pilot. This is operational. This is called Falcon Ways, and we will optimize the CO2 emissions, and we're working not to have a full decarbonization. We will have to buy CO2 emissions and the storage of CO2 emissions.
This is why we've begun with philanthropic support in the Val-d'Oise, which is close to the plant we're going to open soon, and we'll pursue this type of operation in the future. As for the 6X, as I said, we have obtained the certification through the EASA and the FAA. The EASA is in charge. This was done on the twenty-second of October, 2023. We had to, however, modify things, and these modifications were made to enter it into service, and the 6X will enter into was entered into service on November thirty, 2023, and the industrial ramp-up is being done. We've delivered the first aircraft to ourselves. This is our demonstration aircraft, and here on this map, you can see the flights of the Falcon 6X since early December.
It flew a lot, countless number of hours, more than 200, as Carlos is saying, 250 flights, demonstration flights, so we have a greater experience feedback, and clients have flown around the world. You can see in the United States, Europe, which are the two major business markets, but also the Middle East and right up to Australia. They use our aircraft, and next month, we've planned for a campaign for India.
Uh, pardon.
The first 6X was delivered last month.
Falcon 10X, so we have also to postpone our program. We've also had to adjust with our suppliers because some of them also had some difficulties. Let me remind you that there is a huge research and development of all the parts of the aircraft. We work on this with all our suppliers. All these definitions were made during the pandemic in 2020. Usually, we work on the same office work, so we had to work online with conference calls, so it was not ideal. So the postponing of the 6X has obliged Falcon and Dassault its partners to postpone our 10X. Well, so we've worked with our suppliers. The first deliveries will be in 2027. So that means manufacturing the aircraft, the first test, and the certification by the authorities.
Now, Falcon support, we are striving to have a higher standard. We've improved our global software. We had merged together some tools. We had some difficulties, but now it is fully operational, and we're paying great attention to this capacity to use our aircraft worldwide. We've also opened a new service station. We have upgraded our center in Dubai. We've done that in Malaysia and in Florida for the American market. Support for government Falcon, we have now the contract, which were initially held by our competitors in Switzerland, so now we are providing maintenance to the French fleet, the French government fleet. In terms of CSR, we have drawn up a plan, and we have saved.
You'll have all the details with figures in terms of energy consumption, water consumption. CO2 emissions have also been reduced, so we are saving on water and energy. You know that next year we are going to change the rules. We are moving on CSRD, the European directive, which means that we will have to produce a far more comprehensive and committing report. We are all prepared for that, and as you will see in our management report, we already have some results and some outlook for 2024. Human resources is a big challenge for us because the workloads is greater. So in 2023, we have hired 1,732 people, 250 apprentices, so that's almost 2,000 people. So we have had to make ourself more attractive.
We are still in the top five of all the companies young people want to work for, so we've massively recruited, which means that we have to go through strong induction programs so that people feel comfortable in our development teams, but we also have to have them part of the Dassault DNA, which is part of our identity. We are still implementing a recruitment plan because in 2024, we also have planned to recruit another 2,000 people, and we also have many people going on retirement. So that's one of the big challenges of our company, to recruit people, make sure that those people are well supported when inductions takes place, and prepare for those who are going on retirement. For two reasons, we are well aware of that.
We need to consider the bargaining agreement for the metallurgy industry, which is imposing more guidelines for careers and jobs across entities. We are outperforming these guidelines in some areas like prevention, health prevention programs, and some support funds in case of diseased people. It's difficult to change the bargaining agreement, so you have to go through a complicated changing period. Now this is up and running because it has become mandatory since January this year. We're still upgrading our industrial sites. For those of you who've had the opportunity to visit these sites, you see that there are new buildings replacing the older ones or coming in addition to existing one because of the increase in our production capacity. Mérignac has changed greatly.
For those of you who've visited Mérignac, you know that the tertiary teams are up there, but also in the forthcoming years for the Falcon 10X, it's a bigger plane, so once you've put the wings, it's a bigger plane, it's a bigger aircraft in terms of volumes. The 10X is like an A320, so it's not a small aircraft once it is fully fitted. So you need to have bigger buildings on top of the additional staff. Cergy was postponed. It should have been delivered earlier this year, but we've had some construction issues. There had a shortage of material and then human resources, and then some of them went bankrupt. It's just like when you have a new house built, you have to find new providers.
So we have had to postpone the delivery of this building, and we think that Cergy will start operations before the summer. Make in India, this program is still ongoing. We have the T-12 and the T-4 sections of Falcon 2000 are manufactured there. The parts are on time, up to our quality standards. They are cheaper than in France, so that's a very positive experience. So we will carry on with our development in the supply chain in India, just like for the Rafale, and also to get prepared for the future. And I think that we are going to speed up our production transfer for Rafale and maybe for what will be the future of India.
It's not only about manufacturing aircraft, it's also to make sure that the Indian supply chain will be up and running with the main parts manufactured there. We've also worked with other companies, such as Dynamatic, a very dynamic company in India, which could manufacture. We've already signed some contracts with these companies for Falcon 6X, and we've also worked with the PTC Group, which is well known in India, with the Tata company. They're already very busy working for Boeing, Airbus, and others, but we're also working with them to get prepared for the future. We also have some engineers and an engineering center in Pune, which is fully operational, so that we can ramp up this program of skills development in India.
Now, regarding the supply chains, indeed, there were some disruptions and shortages. It has disrupted our production in Mérignac. Some parts were missing, so we've had to postpone our schedules. It's not so sensitive for the Rafale, as we've delivered 13 aircraft instead of 15, plus 2 to the French Army, which were delivered in 2024 instead of 2023, so there was a short delay. But it's more complicated for Falcons because there are several supply chains with different suppliers for the 8X, for the 900, for the 6X, and also the 10X, and we have to manufacture the first aircraft with very different, many different suppliers, so more difficulties.
Since we have some difficulties in being on time in Mérignac, we still send out the aircrafts into Little Rock for the furniture, and we try and catch up with the fitting in Little Rock, so we have to send out our teams there. Then we also have some aerostructure suppliers. They have some human resources shortages. They were also delayed in some aerostructures. Namely, in France, for instance, there are zero U.S.-based companies that are delayed. Only the French companies have such shortages. Our European companies had outsourced in Eastern Europe, and we have to reindustrialize, relocate now, and that's many teams of Dassault who are providing additional support in terms of management of shop floor work to help these suppliers. It's been quite complicated.
Thirdly, the 6X was supposed to be delivered in a certain number of items in 2023, but since the certification was not granted and the entry into service was postponed, and those who were delivered in 2023 were postponed to 2024, but it is also simultaneously happening with the supply chain disruptions. Now, the things are improving, and internally, we try to have a better picture of the supply chain in order to anticipate what's gonna happen with those companies that are going through difficulties. We observe that an increasing number of small suppliers are going through difficult times, but that's also true for some of the big suppliers. So it has made our life a bit more difficult in 2023.
Now, for the 2023 results, EUR 8.3 billion of order intake, EUR 1.7 billion for Falcon, EUR 3.6 billion for the defense export for Rafale, and EUR 3 billion for the French defense. Net sales of EUR 4.8 billion compared to the previous year, with the delivery of 26 Falcons, so less than the previous years, EUR 1.8 billion, 2 Rafale aircraft for exports as planned, EUR 1.5 billion, 11 French aircraft for EUR 1.5 billion, so the 2 missing aircraft I mentioned will be postponed to 2024. The backlog is a record backlog, so EUR 38.5 billion, with EUR 4.6 billion for the Falcons. That is 84 Falcons in our backlog, EUR 24 billion for the Rafale export.
That is 141 Rafale to be delivered, and 70 Rafale aircraft to be delivered to France, so that is some EUR 10 billion, and here you have the breakdown per pie at the bottom. We have pursued our R&D efforts. It's down compared to 2022, but that is normal because the 6X is now behind us in terms of development. It's almost completed, and we are really ramping up. We are focusing on the development of the 10X, so the figure is high, but less than last year.
... So when we compare to the total sales, that is some 10% this year, considering the total sales, it has slightly gone down. Thales, we received the results yesterday. So very good results that are contributing to the net income of the company. We are always very happy to be part of Thales, and we have reinforced ourselves because we have bought some Thales shares, and our net sales is EUR 4.8 billion, operating income, EUR 249 million, so an operating margin of 7%, financial result of EUR 200 million. Thales for EUR 460 million, taxes, EUR 130 million.
So the net income, which I announced at the beginning, is EUR 886 million, which is a net margin of 18.5%, which is up compared to 2022. The self-financed R&D, 10%, so the earnings per share will be EUR 11, +10% compared to last year. The cash is going down, which is normal because we have received advanced payments for the Rafale, but we have to make the aircraft, so the cash is used to build and make these aircraft, so there's an increase in the outstanding. We've also bought the Dassault shares to dilute our current shareholders, and we've bought Thales shares, roughly EUR 1 billion, if I add up Thales and Dassault.
These two topics lead us to a free cash flow of EUR 1 billion and a net cash, which goes from EUR 4 billion to EUR 3 billion, if I'm not mistaken, as announced by the financial director. The breakdown of the capital after dilution, accretion. As of December 31, 2020, we're going to have an accretion this year for the shares we've bought at the beginning of the year. It's going to really increase the shareholders. The GIMD is at 65%, the free float is roughly at 23%, Airbus at 10%, and we have fewer self-owned shares. The voting rights of the GIMD is at more than 79%.
Proposal for the dividend for our shareholders, EUR 3.37 per share, which will be submitted to the approval of the annual general meeting, which will be held on the sixteenth of May this year. The dividends account for EUR 26 million. That's a payout versus the results, so up compared to last year. And just as each and every year, at the same time, we pay a dividend per share for 2022. There's always a gap between the decision and the payoff, and in 2023, it will be EUR 20 million for the incentives, the employee's contribution for 2022. And in 2023, there will be four months of additional contribution to our employees who are already well paid, if I may say so, compared to the rest of the profession.
For 2024, the profit sharing will go down slightly and will be equivalent to 2.9 months of salary. Outlooks and strategy, we're going to focus on the delivery of our aircraft, the production of Rafale. We're going to go to pace three. We have not yet reached that pace at Mérignac, where we are assembling our aircraft. We are delivering the 6X, mainly. The development engagements are on time and according to our cost, but that's business as usual. Currently, it's not that easy because all our suppliers are really increasing their prices. The support for the availability of our aircraft, this is very important from the military point of view, because of the current geopolitical context. It's especially important for our Falcon clients.
They need their aircraft when they travel and when there's a strong activity on our end, when they're submitted to a certain number of topics at the other end of the world, it's important to get a contract for the F5 standard, pursue the studies for the NGF, demonstrator, and prepare ourselves for phase two, ramp up for the Make in India. This is the time to do this, and we have dedicated teams working on that. We are pursuing sales. We don't want to stop anything considering the demand for export Falcons and for the 6X, we have to go on to the next range, and our prime contractor has to work to reinforce our commercial efforts to sell more because we are at a turning point. A new aircraft is arriving, and we are preparing for the arrival of the 10X.
As for CSR, considering all the new constraints we have, we have to work better to prepare for the future in this area and efforts in HR, that is extremely important for the future. Find, hire new people and properly integrate our teams. We have changed the way to do our guidance in the future, that is in 2024. We're not going to just talk about the number of aircraft, because that's not a very good representation of the total sales. So we prefer guiding with the total sales, and we're planning total sales of the EUR 6 billion range for 2024, and this should correspond to a delivery of 35 Rafale - sorry, 35 Falcon and 20 Rafale. 35 Falcon and 20 Rafale. But there will be deliveries in development, deliveries in support, in between inverted commas, support, price, which weighs heavily on our total sales.
To simply guide aircraft, that is not a good representation of the total sales. So this is what I wanted to tell you about the results of this year, 2023, and now I'm ready to answer all your questions. Good morning, Michel Cabirol, La Tribune. I would like to have an assessment for the Rafale export. Do you have figures over the next five, 10 years? What is the potential for exports of the Rafale? You said 2061, 25 for exports. Have you included the pre-owned aircraft or not? And a second question: You said you have bought back Thales shares. Will that change your share ownership with the state? Thank you. As for the number of Rafale, normally, if I'm not mistaken, but there are people correcting me, 2061, that does not include the pre-owned aircraft. So this is why I've put them separately.
So you have to add the 12 pre-owned Greek aircraft and the 12 Croatian aircraft. For the moment, we do not have 12. We have delivered 4. France has delivered them, so you have to add them. And we were honest, we did not counting the French aircraft twice. So these are new aircraft when we talk about the figures you have here on the slides. As for the potential to increase the Rafale, well, it's a bit like the chicken and the hen. 5 years ago, if I was told we're going to go on to pace three, no, I would have said we cannot anticipate that. We should sell first. So there's a limitation to increase production chains, but actually, we need some time. When we set up a Rafale chain and we increase the potential, we need more surface area.
We have planned the right surface area in our plants, and especially in Mérignac. So therefore, we can increase this pace. Today, we have set this pace at 3 so that we can deal with the current orders. If we have more orders, of course, we've anticipated the 26 orders, but if we have to increase them, we can still further increase. I'm not going to give you an exact figure on how much more we can do. We cannot reach pace 20, but we can go above pace 3. It's not just us, it's our suppliers, too. But once the supplier has developed, he's happy because the production of the Rafale that was not very significant in our backlog of our suppliers, now it is becoming more significant, so that is good news for them. And the third question, it's Thales.
Of course, we have bought Thales shares, but we have remained in the pack, and we're not going to go above the magical figures, that will force us to make a takeover bid. We're not going to have a takeover bid on Thales, not you, but the state. Thank you. Bruno Trévidic, I have four questions. Should I put them all in a row? Yes. So to put aside the inflation effects, the increase in the pace, does this have a impact on the production costs and the sales of Rafale, up or down? And then you said things could happen in India, so I have two questions on that. The controlling of DRAL by Dassault, will that be done or not?
And in the framework of an MMRCA 8.0, will there be an additional production line to support industrialization in France to help the supply chain? And a very easy question, there are a lot of people who mix up the development of production and delivery for Falcon. So when will we see 2, 3, 4 Rafales coming out from Mérignac? And there's a German report that questions Dassault for the delivery of the Eurodrone. Do you have any comments to make on that? So there are 5 questions and not 4. So I'll try to answer one after the other. So the first question was on the schedule, the increase in the pace, in the development pace, and as for the costs, in theory, yes, the increase in the pace will bring down costs, but the costs are increasing.
So you're going to say, "Well, you're not good." So yeah, we're not good because everything is increasing because of inflation. And actually, all the prices are increasing. Our suppliers are also increasing their costs because of inflation, because of the increase in the prices of energy, and so therefore, we are following inflation. But as for our prices to our clients, we're following inflation. It's simple. We have to remain within our costs. If we can bring them down, good, we can earn our lives better. If we cannot control those costs, we will not earn our lives that well. So the reality is such that there's a lot of tension for Rafales and Falcons as for the increase to our suppliers, which is greater than the increase in inflation seen from the side of our suppliers.
As for India, yes, with DRAL, we might buy back a certain number of shares, because to go on to the next step, since we've done a joint venture, we have to increase the capital. We need more equity. Since they have more equity, we have to increase the capital. So we have to discuss about this with our partner. There are several solutions. Either they will increase their financial participation, and then there'll be no problem, or they'll have trouble increasing the stake, and then we might buy back some shares. We are 49-51, so we might not buy the 49%. So this is a normal discussion. For the moment, we have stabilized production there. It's working well. We have a mixed team there, a few French and a lot of Indians.
We are very happy by the work done by the Indians and the Indian mastery of all this. So we want to still develop Nagpur with DRAL, whether it's with the Dassault's capital or more finances from both, from Dassault and our partner. From MMRCA, this is the preparation of additional orders in the future. This is not called MMRCA. It will be aircraft to be made locally, partly, and if we obtain these major future contracts in the next decades, this will guarantee a sustainable manufacturing line. We will make a lot, and this will benefit our French factories as it's the case today. So it'll be a win-win for everybody, but we just have to develop India, as I said in my presentation. And the fourth topic, we have reached phase three in our upstream factories. We're increasing our rates.
It's not always easy because at Seclin, we are helping the supply chain manufacture the primary parts, so we're doing additional work, but they've reached phase three. Mérignac, this phase will arrive later. It will be there in a year or 2, and we will go through a rate 2. We have a guidance for 22 Rafale aircraft, so 20 means 2 per month because we are counting 11 months out of 2022. So we are materializing this passage to phase 2. Considering our difficulties with the supply chain, it's a great challenge, so we will go on to phase 3 to phase the deliveries, where we will have more than 22 Rafales. And the last point is the MALE. The MALE, it's difficult with Airbus. We are holding discussions that are reversed compared to what we do usually.
So when you are the prime contractor, what we tell our subcontractor are certain specifications, and then we wait for them to deliver. We can modify our specifications during development, but we know more or less in which direction we are going. We know the size of the aircraft, the orders, the expenses, and we are expecting a lot from Airbus, the prime contractor, to give us the specifications. So what was written in Germany is not the truth.
Good morning. I'd like to know what you think about the European defense strategy presented by the European Commission yesterday, as well as the implementation of this tool, EDIP tool, from EDIRPA and ASAP merger, and the various mechanisms that the Commission has put forward to the member states?
I'm delighted about it. It means that the Europeans think that it's good to work together on defense, and that's very good news because in the past, it was not like this. There was a taxonomy for each type of weapon. You were blamed, and it is still in the mind of many people in Brussels and in Paris. You still have these people saying: "Well, you know, weapons or arming or Dassault and the defense industry will not talk about that. They will talk about a controversial arming or armament." It does not exist in the international vocabulary. So they're going round in circles and beating around the bush, so we don't see why the environment is not to be considered, that the weapons will have to be on our side rather than the side of our enemies or potential enemies.
So I'm delighted that Europe is realizing it, but between this realization and developing a European defense industry, there will be many years and even decades. So it's good that the European institutions have realized these needs. Now, if on top of that, European member states buy European products, that's good, but it's not the reality now. Some progress can be made in pooling the purchases. Why not?
... No, this realization is very good, but my recommendation to Europe is that keep it simple. Don't make it complex with very complex rules and standards, such as what I read in some documents. Too many requirements and standards, so that what is required by some European countries in the case of war economy, we do not develop standards. We have to develop weapons, and our economy from one day to the next will push armament at the heart of our concerns. We're not in that stage in Paris. In Paris, in France, we do have a greater capacity in terms of production made in France that is compared with other countries, but when it comes to ramping up in quantities, it takes time. You cannot do that in a fortnight.
You need to have the appropriate budget to make sure that this ramping up will happen. Now, if there is a European mobilization, that's very good, but it's gonna take time, and I'm delighted that such realization has happened. Good morning. You've said that, you've said you sold fewer Falcons this year in 2023. What does it say about business aviation market today? What about the pre-owned market? Well, I'll first answer the second question, which will shed light on the first question. The pre-owned market was not as dynamic as before the pandemic, where the inventories were very low. Now, the pre-owned business aircraft are more numerous, which, meaning that the market has shrunk a little. Now, for the new aircraft, our case is a bit particular because we're selling pretty well in the U.S.
That was the case in the United States in 2023, not so much in Europe. Maybe this is reflecting some concerns in Europe, but from the economic standpoint, the U.S. market is doing well, full employment. There is a bit of overheating. That's why it's difficult to control inflation. But in Europe, some countries are in a recession, some are close to recession, some have a very high debts, so they will have to have some stringent budget decisions at the national level for some countries. So this is not so encouraging to buy business aircraft in Europe. Asia is awaiting for the 10X because Asia is far away.
But when you compare with Bombardier and others, they're selling these Global 7500 and G650, and they're also waiting for the certification. G700 has not been certified yet. It is pretty much delayed for our competitors. No, we are awaiting for the sales of the 10X, but that's not tomorrow, and in some markets, if you don't have the aircraft ready for the next 18 months, people are ready to wait, so the sales will go up when the 10X is operational.
The Falcon 6X has just been delivered, so gradually for the U.S. market, we think, for instance, that the Falcon 6X, now that it is operational after the maiden flights and that our customers can use it on a demonstration flight, we will increase the number of orders. So it's slightly behind compared with others, but we have to compare comparable aircraft. Our competitors have a wider range than we do. We go from the Falcon 2000, so that's 4,000 nautical miles. And we don't go up to the famous 7,500 nautical miles for the ultra-long range because the Falcon 10X is still under development. Now, when we compare on this market segment, we've always been number three in terms of quantity. This is a rank position that we have maintained.
We would have liked to sell more in 2022, 64 were sold. You know, ups and downs. When the economy is doing better, we sell more, which means that in 2023, the European economy was not that good, and the Russian market has just disappeared, literally. It was 10% of our customer base. I have some questions about your supply chain disruptions that you've mentioned. What is the share for the disruption on the structure side and motorization? And regarding the technological transfer in Make in India, have you taken any specific measures regarding the sovereign cloud? And I'll stop here. So, we do not have problems with the engines and motorizations, and maybe I wouldn't have said that a few years back. It means that some progress has been made.
It's difficult for the engine manufacturers, because they also have their own supply chain problems. They have great difficulties. Now they're delivering. They're not delivering on time, but they're not postponing all the aircraft that we have delivered. Now, all the big ones, the GKN, Latécoère, Daher, AAA, and many others, those are the ones that are late. So much so that we have to postpone our plans, so this is our main focus regarding our supply. So we need to program for the future deliveries and see what kind of support we can provide them with. In India, it's a manufacturing transfer, so there is no technological transfer. It's a transfer of know-how for the manufacturing of Falcons, parts, and in the future, that of Rafale. You know, they are a big partners.
They know how to fly the Rafales, and they also buy Falcons from us, so there is a balance between the Dassault know-how and our capacity to start a partnership with a few Indian companies. I have two questions. One, regarding your appeal to the European Court of Justice. Did you submit it as Dassault Aviation or in a consortium with others? And what about the AWACS aircraft? President Macron has gone to Sweden, and apparently they've talked about some cooperation with Saab. Will you be considering this for this future system? So we are the only one who've appealed to the European Court of Justice. We did not start a consortium or a class action, if you wish.
We started to negotiate with the Commission, Rolls-Royce, the manufacturer of the 10X engines based in Germany, and Safran for noise standard reasons. And Daher is also supporting us, as well as other companies in the industry. But we are the ones submitting the appeal, because we are the big business jet company in Europe. I'd like to recall you that in the EU regulations, what was told to me by the commissioner in charge of transportation, if you use SAF, you are in the Taxonomy. And if you manufacture aircraft with the SAF, you are not included in the Taxonomy. So I don't understand their approach. It seems that there is a loophole in Europe.
Now, if it's political, it's going to be difficult, but if it is a legal issue, then, maybe we have some chances. But I didn't know that, the commission was involved in politics. Now, Saab is a company for which we have great respect. They design and manufacture aircraft. We've had excellent cooperation, with them for the Eurodrone. We really worked pretty well with them. We have very nice memories of our work with Saab. Now, if France and other countries were interested in having an AWACS 10X, we would be ready to discuss it. We've talked about it with our friends at Saab, but what remains to be done is to build a program. But an AWACS is difficult to design.
They are specialized in radars, so they would probably work with our friends at Thales, and then we'll have to select an aircraft. If we would have to compete and if we were to work with Saab, we would be very happy. 10X AWACS or any other topic, the Swedish industry is an industry we can easily cooperate with. Merci. Bonjour.
Good morning, Sarah White from the Financial Times. I have three questions, one on the supply chain. Can you give us the details? What is wrong with the subcontractors? You talked about the difference between the Americans and the Europeans. Can you tell us more? What are you doing at your end? What types of support? Is it financial, et cetera? As for defense in Europe, you have pleaded for a simplification or a simple approach, if possible. But what would you recommend if we had to deliver faster in terms of defense? What would you need to do? More money, more political decisions? And the last question, I don't know if I missed it, but how many people would you hire net this year, if you take into account the departures and the new hirings? Thank you.
As for the supply chain, there are several types of aid we are providing to our supply chain.
... First, what I'm saying is factual, factual. To date, there are no American or Canadian companies with whom we are used to working that are delaying our deliveries. There are some French companies or European companies. GKN is a company that put us in difficulty for the 6X because they had made a choice of a subcontractor far away from Great Britain and far from France, so we had to change. So that costs us money. That means we have to find a new partner in France, and it's going to be Potez, and we have to industrialize in a certain way. We have to set up new teams, and this is done together with GKN. So we are investing, we are setting new teams, industrial teams, teams to launch this chain, and we have to support the manufacturer, the new manufacturer of the different parts.
So this is a major human and financial effort. There are companies where they have difficulties, so we are sending people from quality, from production. We have to help them understand what the difficulties are. And we have teams that are being sent to various companies. To give you the example of 3A, that was sold recently to Daher, we have teams that are going to help there because there are delays. And then there are some small companies that are facing working capital requirement issues. At one point, there was no more money to pay the employees, and we forget that because we are a very large company, but that is our job. We have to pay. We have to be able to pay, so we need to have money in our coffers. So we are making advances.
We, Dassault, so these small companies might be able to survive because it's in our interest. It's not just for everybody's happiness that we're doing this, but we are, of course, taking risks. When you're working with a company that is not totally secure, we are taking risks. And we've put money in aeronautical fund with our friends from Airbus, Safran, and Thales, and this fund can help provide equity to a certain number of companies in difficulty. I'd just like to remind you that there was a high density oxygen because of COVID. So just oxygen, more oxygen makes us euphoric, and when you remove the oxygen, and you have to live without the oxygen, well, all of a sudden, it's more difficult. So we have to refund the loans. If you step up production, you have to invest. You need money, so you need working capital requirements.
When you go to see the bank, well, the banks right now, with the high interest rates and the lower volumes, you have to go and meet the banks to ask them to lend, and they're less altruistic than Dassault, and they don't want to lend to someone who's going to collapse. So it is a downward spiral. So there are some companies that will wind up. That is everyday life. Before the COVID, we have to get used to living as before the COVID, and these companies should be able to manufacture and supply with other companies. And we, considering our manufacturing, we don't have double, triple, quadruple sources, so we really have to anticipate things. So this is how we're helping. It's human help. We're sending talented teams.
When we send them away, we don't have them with us anymore, so this creates some voids, and we have all kinds of aid, funds. We make payment advances so that they can make ends meet. For the net 2023, we are at +1,200. Sorry, 2024. 2024. He's correcting himself. So the 2,000 that we're planning to hire, we are anticipating the departure of 30 people, so it should be 1,200 net. So this is a progress in terms of our staff in the group. It's true in France and in the U.S., because in the U.S., the phenomenon is different. In France, we have preserved our employees during the COVID, thanks to the loans.
In the US, there was no aid from the state, and they left, and it was difficult to get them back, so we had hiring issues in the US. And in the US, there is full employment. When you're in Arkansas, in Little Rock, the unemployment rate, according to the government, is 2.3%. I had met them, and they're still saying that they're trying to get more people. The advantage in the US is that when you create a company, when you create new jobs, people come. They come from all over the United States. In France, we create in a given place, and in another place, there is unemployment. Things don't move, and mobility is difficult in France. And was what do you expect from defense in Europe? No, that's Freudian. I didn't want to answer that question, actually. But we're waiting...
For something, we are trying to be pragmatic, and we need the help from the states. The states have know-how, they have skills, and if these states want to do things together, that's perfect, so long as we do not sacrifice our efficiency to a dogma. There's no more time to waste, and we have to use the fastest, simplest solutions, the most easy ones, the most pragmatic ones. Today, if we were supposed to have a war in the future, which I don't hope for, and I mean, the NATO is ahead in terms of military efficiency. And to build equipment for the NATO, we've understood that the U.S. were not absent from this whole story, including in Europe. And I'm going to say it again, otherwise, you're going to tell me that I'm bringing my guard down.
There's an American preference when we buy in Europe. So if somebody talks about European preference, great! We will see the efficiency of this declaration of intent versus reality. But then the defense, the European defense tool that has not been planned for that, that should be developed. And that is one of the questions. Today, it's true in France, and it's true in the whole of Europe. Hassan Meddah from L'Usine Nouvelle, two questions on supply chain and one question on taxonomy. The supply chain, is the Rafale supply chain less exposed than the Falcon supply chain? And considering the M&A problems, are you tempted to call on your engine subsidiary, engine subsidiary to offset things? As for the taxonomy, can you tell us what are the issues at stake to be part of this taxonomy or not for your business jet sector?
Now, for the Rafale, we do have difficulties, too. We are not going to hide that, but it is easier. Why? Because you have only one supply chain. Whether it's for France or for the export, it's the same chain, it's the same parts. So when we have a difficulty, we're focusing our efforts, and we are solving one difficulty. Secondly, we deliver our aircraft to Mérignac, not to Little Rock, as for the Falcon. It's not the fault of Little Rock, but when we are behind time for a basic aircraft, which is not equipped with all the completion, we don't let it go. So that creates an additional difficulty, and it's more complicated to catch up. So for the Rafale, it's easier to focus, to have all the parts. The engine supply chain is not really helping us in our everyday life.
What we hope is that in the future, they will be able to contribute to this, stepping up in production. And the taxonomy, it is not really affecting us at Dassault. It is affecting the financial tools. So the funds are setting criteria. They're saying that, "If you're not following the taxonomy, we're not going to help you. We're not going to enter into your capital. We're not going to give you loans." And that's where things will be difficult for our supply chain, for our business jets and for our military aircraft, because even if it is not the environmental taxonomy and there is no more social taxonomy, some people mix both, and they're confused. They do not know what Brussels wants in terms of social taxonomy, the environmental taxonomy or the social one, and then they exclude the defense and the business aviation.
So that is the risk, and we have to really say loudly and clearly that if you want to be in defense, it should be said everywhere, everywhere, not only at the Ministry of Armies. I don't always hear this in Bercy, but it should be said in Bercy, too. So you're going to say it to them, and they're going to call me because they'll tell me that I'm saying something foolish. But it's just a slight exaggeration of things to make people aware. That's for defense, for this taxonomy that, does not exist, as they say. And for business aviation, I hope that, people will understand that it isn't that we don't want to work on the environment, but we do not want to have a political stigmatization on people who are working for the future, who are working on the environment, but they have needs.
Business jets is not only a caricature of the person who has a lot of money and who's going on holidays. It's 90% flights for business. These are people who need to go somewhere, they need to go somewhere else, not too far, and they optimize their time, they optimize their trips so that they can put their companies at the best level, considering their suppliers, their partners, et cetera. It's only here in France that we have to explain this. We don't have to explain this elsewhere, everybody knows. And in France, it is known too, but there are people who criticize. And, when they talk about private aviation, well, what do they mean by private aviation? It's, it's a nonsense to talk about private aviation.
When you have a private company that does commercial aviation, do we call it private aviation or commercial aviation? We call it commercial aviation. So what do they mean by private aviation? This is stigmatizing things that it's private people, but it's companies or even governments that use this type of business jets. 10% of this is used by the government. I'm an independent journalist. You were happy with the financial results of Thales, and as a shareholder, what about the list price of Thales since the 24th of February, 2022? It's increasing. It's increasing. But as for Rheinmetall, Leonardo, BAE, the price of Thales shares has not gone up that much. So I don't want to hurt any financial specialists here, but our list price is not our subject, neither for Dassault nor Thales.
We are happy with the share price since we have entered Thales. It has rocketed. We've made a good investment, and we are paid off dividends that contributes to our net, so everybody's happy. But we are at Thales, just as Dassault family is at Dassault, and we're there over the long term. In terms of the long term, the share price is not important. It's not important over several years. Over several years, it's going to progress. It's going to progress well. If your question is to say it could be better, that means we have a huge potential for evolution, so it's better to be within Thales. So why is it as high as it should be? I can't answer. The analysts are much better than I am in that topic. At 25% or 26% now, because we have increased it.
Once again, we're very happy to be at 26% within Thales. We have a good capital. We're not going to sell it, so we are not interested by the share price. We've bought here. So if you tell me that it was under, that means we were right to buy. You should always buy when the price is under, so we were right to buy when the Thales share was lower, and now we've reached a maximum level. Good morning, Anne Bauer from Les Echos. I have a topical question on Saudi Arabia. Are you still negotiating with them, or the German veto that has been put off is delaying everything? And another question on the FCAS, what are the next deadlines for you? We always feel that it's going to be later, but it happens very quickly. We're working on Saudi Arabia.
We're doing things as people do it locally. We are having discussions with the armed forces because a combat aircraft, we have to make sure that the aircraft is good. We think that our aircraft is better than the Eurofighter. If I told you the opposite, you would be surprised, but it is not just me who thinks that, a lot of people who think that. So that's one of the main points. And the second thing, Saudi Arabia would like to form partnerships in the industry, so we're working on this. We're very interested, and we're having discussions with Saudi companies, with the Saudi Air Force, and with those who've been appointed to discuss all these topics with us. So we're doing this normally. Good, if the Germans have opened up exports. I mean, as the Americans say, "In God, we trust.
For the second question, the FCAS. Well, developing a fighter jet and a demonstrator takes time, even more so when you have various partners, so it's the normal pace. We are on track considering the contracts we've signed, not only with the states, but also with our industrial partners, that is Airbus. The next milestone will be the phase two contract, which is the development and manufacturing of a demonstrator, further to the detailed studies, and that's in 2026. So there will be a whole preparatory work. It's not only an industrial preparatory work. We have also to make sure that the budgets are allocated by the three countries that are part of the FCAS, but we're on track.
I'd like to talk about your favorite topic, FCAS. I'd like to know if there has been any progress as to the potential closer relations with Saab. Not at this stage. Tara Patel on Bloomberg, on the same topic, on the new generation fighter, NGF. What about your relations with Airbus? Have things smoothed out? How do you work with them? And if your relations is, are not as good as expected, what are you expecting? Well, we've been working with Airbus. You know, the relations are quite normal.
... for the 1B phase, when the phase two manufacturing stage starts, we'll see if we have good relations or if it is like when we signed for the 1B phase, when it was a bit difficult. And now, since we are taking the lead, we work as per the Dassault methods. So those who can keep up with the pace, that's no problem. We're aiming for efficiency, and we will see for phase two if we can find the good agreements, and we can agree with them and find some common ground. It's a normal business relation with Airbus. If we can come up with an agreement and we come to common grounds and work together, then it's a normal type of business relation. I have two short questions.
We've noted that you will be at the head of GIMD before January 8th, 2025. My first question is, what about the leading Dassault Aviation and GIMD? I've understood that you will still have the two caps. What of the combat drone with the Rafale F5? Any idea as to the schedule for the development phase, the maiden flight, the entry into in service, and what is the development cost of such an aircraft? A press release has been issued to answer your first question. The entry into force will be next year. I have one year to get prepared. The important thing is that you have more responsibilities. You rely more on your teams that are more directly at the frontline solving the problems.
You know that the CEO usually doesn't do this type of work, so the answer to your question will be given in less than a year. For the second question... How should I answer this? Just like, wait and see. Wait. You'll have to wait. Be patient. You do have the answers, don't you? Maybe be more specific in your question, so maybe I can provide you with more details. You've said you were expecting an order by the French DGA for the F5. Well, for F5, we're waiting an order for the study. So we have to check the budget, what Dassault and its partners can do, that is mainly Thales. What will be the requirements by the French DGA? So we are studying anything that is possible during regarding drone fighters.
It's an announcement which was made by the minister, as you know, so we're still waiting for further detailed engineering studies on this. So we're waiting for the French armed forces to work on this. You know, the French Defense Procurement Agency has to provide us with their terms of reference. Back to what you said earlier. With the US hegemony in NATO, let's not forget the problem you've had with F-35 versus F-16. It's good also to remember all this. Now, what about the pace problem you've had between the industrial transfer of the Argenteuil plant to the Cergy plant? No, operating feedback is very easy. It's just need to plug the computers, make sure that there is a power supply. There is no issue there.
It's a digital routine, and, you know, moving from one site to the next doesn't mean any problem between Argenteuil and Cergy. It's more a physical thing. You know, you have to move everything, the equipment, the people, without wasting time, and shut down the Argenteuil plant in a proper manner. Now, for the F1, I'm not... You know, I'm young, so I don't remember all this, but I haven't gone through that. But for the F-35, for instance, the Czech Republic is buying F-35, just like Belgium and the Netherlands. Germany has bought F-35 because they have good reasons for that. This is what is more concerning to me that... than the past. It means that there was a strong strategic decision made. The European countries are buying from the US.
I will not repeat endlessly what I've said, except for those who are supposed to buy Eurofighter. I have no problem with the Eurofighter. It's a European. But those who've developed the Eurofighter are also buying from the U.S. That's the case for Italy, Germany, and the U.K., and that's not the case yet for Spain. So, yes, we are concerned, but it's not a hegemony. You know, the U.S. are competing with no qualms. But when we talk about this realization in Europe, we were discussing earlier, we shouldn't have qualms in Europe either, even though I think there are some qualms are here around. Question with no microphone. Answer: Platform is doing pretty well. For the 10X, we are fully operating it, and we are hoping to deploy it for all our aircraft in the future.
On a step-by-step basis, it is providing us with a great capacity to have our software that are not Dassault Systèmes software on our platform, so that's very good for us. So it works pretty much with our platform. So we can keep on using our own tools and the tools from other platforms, with a preference for the Dassault Systèmes tools, of course.