Dassault Unveils Falcon 5X Business Jet

 

Dassault Aviation has unveiled its biggest and most advanced Falcon jet. The Falcon 5X is a new-generation large-cabin business jet with new a flight control system, new aerodynamics, and other advanced technologies, many pioneered in Dassault’s military programs.

 

“The Falcon 5X is the new benchmark for the creative use of advanced technology in business aviation,” says Eric Trappier, chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation. “Using design and manufacturing software and systems pioneered by Dassault, we have been able to build a larger, more comfortable and more capable aircraft that is also more environmentally friendly and much more economical to operate compared to other airplanes in its class.”

 

“The Falcon 5X represents our biggest investment since the beginning of the Falcon programs,” says Trappier. “It demonstrates our commitment to maintaining the technology leadership that we have displayed in this market since our first business jet flew 50 years ago.”

 

Unveiled in Las Vegas at the National Business Aviation Association’s annual convention, the company hailed the Falcon 5X as an industry breakthrough, offering the largest cabin cross section of any purpose-built business jet and fuel efficiency as much as 50% better than competing aircraft.

 

The Falcon 5X represents an important addition to the Falcon product line, expanding its offering in the large-cabin segment. The new jet has a cabin height of 6.5ft (1.98m), an important consideration for passenger comfort on flights of 10 or 11 hours’ duration. The 16-passenger aircraft has a range of 5,200nm (9,630km), connecting Los Angeles with London, Sao Paulo with Chicago, Johannesburg with Geneva, or Paris with Beijing. 

 

Functionality and modern style blend in the cabin. The company conducted extensive research into new cabin technology and styling techniques that will greatly enhance passengers’ sense of spaciousness and comfort.

 

The new aircraft’s digital flight control system represents a major advance in making aircraft control more precise, easier, and safer. The system integrates all-moving control surfaces for the first time, including an additional control surface called a flaperon that allows steep approaches at slow and safe speeds. It also integrates nose wheel steering for safer runway handling in strong crosswind conditions and on wet or slick runways. Dassault Aviation is a leader in digital flight control technology having pioneered it on fighters four decades ago and having introduced the first business jet with digital flight controls, the Falcon 7X, in 2007.

 

Honeywell will provide the 5X with a new generation of the Falcon series’ EASy all-digital cockpit, as well as its most advanced radar, capable of detecting turbulence at greater distances than current models.

 

The cockpit will feature advanced head-up display technology, provided by Elbit Systems. The new HUD will combine enhanced vision and synthetic vision for situational awareness, even in total darkness, fog, or dense haze. Enhanced vision uses infrared sensors to display terrain in darkness and reduced visibility. Synthetic vision uses a global terrain database for the same purpose. In the 5X, they will be combined for the first time on the head-up display providing a high fidelity view of the outside world even when actual visibility is zero.

 

The aircraft will be powered by new-generation Silvercrest engines from Safran Snecma, the French-based engine maker.

 

“The Silvercrest engine is 15% more fuel efficient than other engines in its power class; emissions are dramatically lower than current standards, and the engine is remarkably quiet,” says Trappier. Dassault Aviation and Snecma worked closely to marry the aircraft and the engine for optimum efficiency and performance. The companies have a long history of close collaboration, Trappier notes. Snecma provides the M88 engines for the supersonic Rafale fighter also built by Dassault Aviation.

 

Both aircraft and engines will have an advanced real-time self-diagnosis onboard maintenance system. These computerized monitoring systems report service issues immediately to ground-based service hubs, so maintenance teams can begin to respond while the aircraft is still in the air. Snecma’s ForeVision health monitoring system, which equips the Silvercrest, can forecast when maintenance will be required several flights or even hundreds of flight hours in advance, making scheduling easier and ensuring availability of the aircraft when it is needed.

 

Falcon 5X airframe structures are already in production at several Dassault sites in France and at suppliers’ plants. New, more automated manufacturing technologies and streamlined production processes will reduce parts count and aircraft weight, and speed the assembly process. 

 

To be priced at about $45 million in 2013 dollars, the Falcon 5X is expected to make its first flight in the first quarter of 2015 and to achieve certification before the end of 2016.

 

Dassault Falcon is the recognized global brand for Dassault business jets which are designed, manufactured, and supported by Dassault Aviation and Dassault Falcon Jet Corp.

 

The company employs a workforce of over 11,000 and has assembly and production plants in both France and the United States and service facilities around the globe. Since the rollout of the first Falcon 20 in 1963, over 2,250 Falcon jets have been delivered. The family of Falcon jets currently in production includes the tri-jets—the Falcon 900LX and the 7X—as well as the twin-engine 2000LX, 2000LXS, and Falcon 2000S.

 

Dassault Falcon Jet Corp., a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of Dassault Aviation, France, markets and supports the Falcon family of business jets throughout North America, South America, and the Pacific Rim countries of Asia, including the People’s Republic of China.