Dassault Aviation’s ultra-long-range Falcon 10X business jet remains on track to hit a revised service-entry target in late 2027, but the French airframer is staying tight-lipped on when its maiden sortie will take place.
“On principle we never say when the first flight will come,” said chief executive Eric Trappier, speaking to FlightGlobal in Paris on 5 March.
“But if you say you may deliver the first one at the end of 2027, for sure 2025 should be such a year.”
Despite the veil of secrecy around the likely date of the first flight, there is ample evidence of progress, not least that Dassault’s initial flying prototype is coming together at the airframer’s site in Merignac near Bordeaux.
“We are not far from having a complete first aircraft,” he adds.
Engine supplier Rolls-Royce has already shipped the Pearl 10X powerplants for the maiden sortie following completion last year of test flights aboard its Boeing 747-200 testbed.
“We are very happy with Rolls,” says Trappier. “We were able to go and meet the teams and check the good progress of their work.”
Earlier concerns about Rolls-Royce’s financial position as it emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic have also eased.
“We are confident, because we were a little bit afraid by the Rolls-Royce financial problems two years ago, but it looks like it is a lot better now,” he says.
Trappier, however, still refuses to disclose the thrust rating of those engines, stating only that “we are very happy with them”.
To date, all that either party has said is that the Pearl 10X will offer more power than the 18,250lb (81kN) produced by the Gulfstream G700-powering Pearl 700.
In early 2024, Dassault pushed back the Falcon 10X’s planned service entry by around two years from end-2025, citing problems caused by developing the jet during Covid-19.
Interaction with suppliers was disrupted by the restrictions put in place to control the pandemic “which affected a little bit the efficiency of the time schedule” and meant “we had to reschedule completely the timing”.
Broader disruption in the supply chain from the lingering after-effects of Covid continues and is likely to persist in 2025 before easing in 2026, Trappier adds.
Late deliveries from aerostructures suppliers proved a particular pinch point in 2024, causing Dassault to miss its guidance for Falcon shipments, handing over 31 rather than 35 of the jets.
On top of the supply chain challenges, 2024’s delivery total was further impacted by the slower-than-hoped service entry of the Falcon 6X.
While the process itself has been relatively pain-free and “reliability looks to be good”, overall, it was “too slow to my mind regarding the schedule that was planned for 2024”, he says.
“We should have delivered more [6Xs] than we did in 2024 and that was one of the reasons we didn’t reach our guidance as far as the Falcon was concerned.”
Modifications to the fuel system of some early-build jets required by the European regulator were a particular drag on deliveries, says Trappier.
Dassault had to carry out much of that work at its completions centre in Little Rock, Arkansas, which proved a “little bit more difficult” than performing it on the final assembly line.
“This is why we had some delay in the deliveries of the 6X – now we are not too far to be back on schedule.”
Meanwhile, Dassault continues working on the transfer of its Falcon 2000 final assembly to India.
Dassault has been moving some aerostructures work to partners in the country both for cost reasons and as an offset for New Delhi’s purchase of Rafale fighters, but Trappier only sees the relationship deepening.
It will be a “matter of years” before Falcon 2000 final assembly is switched, but “we are convinced by the feasibility”, he adds.
