Dassault Aviation is firming up plans for a new super mid-sized business jet and has begun talking to potential industrial partners on the programme. “A decision on whether to go ahead will probably be made in early 2007,” says the company.
Dassault chief executive Charles Edelstenne has been talking about a new aircraft to meet demand lower down its product range since the 2002 National Business Aviation Association convention, when he disclosed a study programme to look at super mid-size options. Now, the company says it is “opening discussions” with suppliers about what they can provide for a programme that will be aimed at “offering customers an economic entry into the Dassault range”.
The aircraft will be developed strictly along the lines of the long-range Falcon 7X, now in flight testing and due for certification in the final quarter of this year. “We have decided that as far as design and production technology goes, this aircraft will take full advantage of the lessons from the 7X,” says Dassault. The 7X broke new ground by using Dassault’s three-dimensional virtual design technology to cut design-to-production time to an unprecedented five years, bringing significant reductions in production costs.
The powerplant could be provided for the first time by France’s Snecma, which has revealed plans to develop a new engine for business aircraft and smaller regional jets.
Surviving in an “extremely competitive market” means keeping development and production costs as low as possible, and is the main driver behind a go/no-go decision, a company source says. Dassault has been absent from the lower end of the business jet market for many years, but says it has been asked by its “traditional customers” to come up with an aircraft to compete in the super mid-size category.
The aircraft, likely to be a twinjet, will have a 5,920km (3,200nm) range and cost $15-20 million, competing with the Bombardier Challenger 300, Gulfstream 200 and Raytheon Hawker 4000, all in the same price bracket.
JULIAN MOXON / LONDON
Source: Flight International
