French billionaire and the scion of Rafale fighter jet maker, Olivier Dassault has been killed in a helicopter crash in Normandy, northern France.
Dassault was the eldest son of late French billionaire industrialist Serge Dassault, who was the chairman and chief executive officer of Dassault Group which builds the Rafale war planes and owns Le Figaro newspaper.
Serge died suddenly at his office at the Dassault group headquarters in Paris on 28 May 2018, from heart failure at the age of 93.
Olivier Dassault aimait la France. Capitaine d’industrie, député, élu local, commandant de réserve dans l’armée de l’air : sa vie durant, il ne cessa de servir notre pays, d’en valoriser les atouts. Son décès brutal est une grande perte. Pensées à sa famille et à ses proches.
The private helicopter crashed on Sunday afternoon in Normandy, where he has a holiday home, according to a police source. The pilot was also killed, reported Reuters.
Dassault was considered the 361st richest man in the world alongside his two brothers and sister, with wealth of about 6 billion euros ($7.15 billion) mostly inherited from his father, according to the 2020 Forbes rich list.
Not many Indians know that during the early 80s Dassault bagged a $3 billion deal by infiltrating the Indian military.
French intelligence penetrated the PMO and information regarding the deal was leaked to French military attache in India.
This info is directly from the interview of French DGSE chief at the time boasting about the operation.
Needless to say, the incident was never investigated.
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