Yesterday, when France celebrated the 60th anniversary of the first operational alert of the Mirage IV of the Strategic Air Forces, a patronage agreement were signed by the Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation Éric Trappier and the Chairman of the Charles de Gaulle Foundation Hervé Gaymard. The signing – attended by the Minister of the French Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu – took place at Colombey-les-Deux-Églises (Haute-Marne, France), where General de Gaulle once lived and is now buried.
As part of its corporate philanthropy program, Dassault Aviation wishes to support the Charles de Gaulle Foundation, in order to uphold its actions and accomplishments to promote and enhance the work of General de Gaulle.
General de Gaulle and Dassault Aviation share many common features that, despite the passage of time, remain firmly rooted in the identity and values of the company, its management and its employees.
The aerospace and defense sector owes much of its current success to industrial Gaullism. France’s great industrial champions – Dassault Aviation included – are the direct heirs of this policy. The latter aimed to give France back control over its destiny, by developing national weapons systems – the only way to guarantee its sovereignty: “If France is to wield a sword, it ought to be its own”, the General once explained. Since 1964, Dassault aircraft have been helping to defend the nation’s vital interests, successively with the Mirage IV, a copy of which was inaugurated yesterday in front of the Colombey memorial, the Mirage 2000 and the Rafale. His patriotism and love for economic sovereignty are etched into Dassault Aviation’s DNA, spurring the company on to support France’s armed forces, industrial fabric and territories for over a century.
General de Gaulle once thanked Marcel Dassault “for the part he played in upholding France’s caliber.” Dassault Aviation intends to carry on this legacy, by striving for innovation and excellence as it always has; from the post-war Ouragan fighter, followed by the Mystère fighter, the Mirage fighter and the Falcon business jets, to tomorrow’s Rafale F5 omnirole fighter and a future fighter aircraft successor after tomorrow.
