Dassault Aviation has filed a criminal complaint over acts of damage at its Cergy plant, northwest of Paris, where Rafale fuselage sections are assembled. Police have arrested a worker at the site.
In a statement to French broadcaster BFMTV on September 25, 2026, the company said it had “filed a complaint for acts of damage committed in the Cergy plant” and that a “collaborator” had been arrested.
“Justice is taking its course,” Dassault added.
The manufacturer did not say what was damaged, when the acts took place, or whether Rafale production or deliveries were affected. As of September 28, 2026, no prosecutor’s statement setting out the charges had been published.
Damage reported at Rafale production site
The case was first reported by Le Parisien on September 25, 2026. The publication said Dassault filed its complaint after it found damage on a Rafale under construction at the site in late 2025 and later discovered further damage on a fighter on the Cergy line in June 2026.
Dassault inaugurated the Cergy plant in September 2025. The site had been taking over work previously carried out at the company’s Argenteuil plant since the summer of 2024.
Cergy integrates fuselage sections and installs systems and equipment on Rafale fuselages before the aircraft are sent for final assembly and flight testing at Mérignac, near Bordeaux. More than 600 people worked at the site when it was inaugurated.
In February 2026, security staff briefly held a temporary worker in Cergy after finding camera glasses on him. Pontoise prosecutor Guirec Le Bras said on February 12, 2026, that the glasses had not been used to film inside the plant, and the worker was released.
France moves to protect sensitive defense sites
The case came to light a week after President Emmanuel Macron met party leaders at the Élysée Palace on September 18, 2026.
In remarks published by the presidency, Macron said the government had been asked to prepare a plan to protect critical infrastructure “as well as the most sensitive sites of our defense industrial and technological base” against drone and cyber attacks.
Macron framed the measure as part of what he described as intensifying Russian hybrid threats. He cited the failed drone attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport (LEJ), which Germany has attributed to Russia.
