The Étendard's history begins with two design requirements in the early 1950s. One was for a light jet fighter for the French Air Force, the other for a light fighter to serve as standard equipment with NATO air forces. Dassault used variations of the same basic design to produce prototypes for both these specifications, designated the Etendard II and Etendard VI respectively, neither of which led to any orders. At the same time, the company evolved a larger and more powerful variant (originally designated Mystère XXIV) as a private venture.

Able to generate interest from the Navy, Dassault built a prototype navalised version, first demonstrated to the service in 1958 and which resulted in an order for 69 fighter aircraft, designated Étendard IVM and 21 reconnaissance versions designated Étendard IVP. From 1962, these began to be deployed aboard the new French Clemenceau class aircraft carrier .

Performance of the Étendard IV was never spectacular, in the low supersonic range at altitude. It could reach Mach 1.3 at 11,000 meters and Mach 0.97 at low altitude. In the 1970s it was clear that a replacement should be sought. For some time, this was hoped to be a navalised version of the SEPECAT Jaguar, the Jaguar M, but as the various political problems of the joint Anglo-French effort dragged out development, Dassault stepped in with an uprated version of the Étendard, dubbed Super Etendard. The last of the original Étendard IVMs were withdrawn in 1991, although a handful of IVPs remain operational in 2004.

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