Dassault Aviation has pledged not to put forward one of its own executives to replace Denis Ranque as chief executive at Thales should he go after Dassault acquires a 26 per cent stake in the French defence electronics company.

The business jet and combat aircraft group is poised to announce its acquisition of the stake from Alcatel-Lucent, the telecoms equipment supplier, following the agreement of a new shareholder pact with the French state, which owns 26.5 per cent of Thales.