The French group Dassault Aviation reported Thursday a 47 percent jump in 2012 first quarter sales to 950 million euros ($1.25 billion) owing to strong results from its business aviation division.

Falcon jet sales were up by 66 percent at 644 million euros, the company said in a statement.

It delivered 15 new business jets during the first quarter, compared with nine during the same period last year.

Sales at Dassault's defence division gained 19 percent to 306 million euros, meanwhile.

Orders during the first quarter -- 67 percent of them from abroad -- reached a total value of 734 million euros, up by 71 percent from the first quarter of 2011.

About 284 million euros of orders were recorded by the defence division, including a contract with the French Army for unmanned drones.

Dassault is in exclusive talks with India for a massive order of 126 Rafale combat jets worth 12 billion dollars to modernise Delhi's air force.

The Rafale, Dassault's state-of-the-art jet designed to replace the Mirage, has so far only been sold to the French military, with two such aircraft delivered during the first quarter to the French Air Force.

Dassault is also hoping to sell the Rafale to Brazil.