This paper presents the modeling paradigm for Integrated Modular Avionics Design MIMAD V0, which is an extensible component-oriented framework that enables high level models of systems designed on integrated modular avionics architectures. MIMAD relies on the Generic Modeling Environment (GME), a configurable object-oriented toolkit that supports the creation of domain-specific modeling and program synthesis environments. MIMAD is built upon a library of components within the POLYCHRONY platform, dedicated to the design of avionic applications. Its descriptions can be therefore transformed into POLYCHRONY’s models in order to access the available formal tools and techniques for validation. Users do not need to be experts of formal methods (in particular, of the synchronous approach) to be able to manipulate the proposed concepts. This contributes to satisfying the present industrial demand on the use of general-purpose modeling formalisms for system design.