Manufacturer says its new flagship - created entirely in Catia - addresses top-of-the-market requirement for 'value'
Dassault Aviation formally unveiled its flagship Falcon 7X business jet on 15 February to an audience of 800 guests at its Bordeaux-M...rignac plant, signifying the French manufacturer's desire to remain at the forefront of aircraft design and manufacturing technology.
The three-engined 7X, the core aircraft in a new range of Dassault business jets, marks a "huge step forward in the industry", says Dassault chairman Charles Edelstenne, raising the bar in aircraft design and manufacturing and ushering in a new industry benchmark.
Dassault Falcon president John Rosanvallon says a key driver behind developing an all-new aircraft like the 7X is the need to offer customers value for money. "In the rarefied air where large, long-range corporate aircraft are developed, price and cost of operation have sometimes taken a back seat to other considerations," he says. "We decided to address this head on."
Drawing on the expertise of the group's defence arm, Dassault says the Falcon 7X is the first commercial aircraft to be designed in an entirely virtual environment, using the Catia and Delmia software developed by sister company Dassault Systemes. The company's Rafale fighter was the first aircraft designed entirely using Catia.
The goal of the virtual platform was to enable Dassault and its 27 risk-sharing partners, including EADS Casa, EADS Socata, Stork, Pratt & Whitney Canada and Lat...coère, to concurrently and collaboratively design the 7X from their home sites, sharing a common-configured, constantly updated digital mock-up of the aircraft.
IT restructure
In parallel, Dassault launched an ambitious plan to restructure the company's entire information technology system. This included expanding its design platform to integrate product development from conception through manufacturing to maintenance. "We know all parts are made exactly to the model specification from the major components down to fasteners, rivets and bolts," says Rosanvallon. The aircraft is built according to the model, not to the jig, and no adjustments are required, he says, adding: ''This is the most cost effective method for aircraft manufacturing."
Development costs of the 7X have been pegged at around €700 million ($900 million), of which around €200 million will be provided by the programme's risk-sharing partners, Rosanvallon says.
He confirms that use of advanced digital design and production software on the 7X has led to cost and time savings of more than 30%. Furthermore, the first development airframe was assembled in less than seven months, about half the time for a typical programme of this scale.
These tangible benefits have persuaded the airframer to use the technology in development of a new family of business jets. Dassault has yet to select the new Falcon model, but the next sibling could be unveiled as early as next year. In keeping with its tradition of concentrating on the high-end business jet market from the $20.6 million mid-size Falcon 50EX to the $37 million long-range Falcon 7X, Dassault is unlikely to offer a product below the $15 million price bracket.
Meanwhile, development of the 7X is proceeding as planned as Dassault strives to meet the certification and first delivery target of late 2006. The first in a series of ground tests was completed successfully on 1 February, when more than 1,000 parameters were recorded during tests of the engines, auxiliary power unit, avionics, full-authority digital engine control, and all moveable surfaces including flight controls and landing gear.
Around 50h of engine ground runs will be required before the first flight, scheduled for the second quarter, says deputy programme director Vincent Oldrati. Three development aircraft are due to take part in the 1,200h, 18-month flight-test programme, with the second and third aircraft set to enter flight testing in June and August respectively. The latter aircraft will be equipped with a typical customer interior, the first time Dassault has flown an aircraft with the cabin installed during type certification testing. "One aircraft will also be fitted for noise level measurement," Oldrati says, as the manufacturer pursues a 52dB sound level in the cabin, 4dB lower than its stablemates.
Virtual flights on the fly-by-wire 7X have been ongoing for several months at Dassault's Saint Cloud site, where a test bench has been constructed replicating every aspect of the aircraft. Exact duplicates of the hydraulic tubes and electrical wiring were manufactured to ensure response times were accurate to a millisecond, says flight-test engineer Dominique Pilorget. Together with the flight computer, the test bench has allowed the pilots to "fly" the aircraft and validate control laws well before the first flight, he says.
Static and fatigue testing will begin next month at the Toulouse Aeronautical Test Centre. Only one test article, built as a production airframe, will be used for the trials.
The 7X is powered by three 6,100lb thrust (27kN) P&WC PW307A turbofans, now under development and earmarked for Canadian and US certification in the second quarter. European approval is scheduled by September.
The 7X is designed to carry eight passengers and three crew up to 10,600km (5,700nm) at Mach 0.8, with New York to Tokyo one of the few non-stop city pairs that cannot be achieved, Dassault says. The key driver of the 7X's range is its high-transonic wing - Dassault's first new Falcon wing since the mid-1970s. The planform is 44% larger than that on the Falcon 900EX, has a 5% higher sweep and is optimised for aeroelasticity effects. Lift to drag ratio is 30% higher than the current generation of wing, Dassault says, yet it will retain the Falcon family's low-speed performance, offering a landing speed of 104kt (190km/h). Carrying eight passengers, the 7X would need just 715m (2,350ft) of runway to land, the company says.
With a maximum operating speed of M0.9 and a cabin length of 11.9m, the 7X is positioned between - at one end of the spectrum - the Falcon 900EX, Bombardier Global 5000 and Gulfstream G450 and - at the other - the longer-range Global XRS and G550. Rosanvallon has no qualms about pitching the 7X against these ultra-long-range jets, arguing that customers rarely take advantage of the 12,500km range on offer.
Cannibalised market
By positioning the aircraft against its own 900EX, however, Dassault admits it has cannibalised this market. "This is to be expected," Rosanvallon says. "It is a natural dynamic for people to move up through the range." The programme is backed by 51 firm orders, the highest number of sales recorded for a Falcon before its first flight, he says.
Around half the sales are to US-based customers, and an increasing number of 7X orders are from owners of Bombardier and Gulfstream types and, surprisingly, from customers new to business aviation, Dassault says.
"From the response we have received from the market it is apparent the 7X has filled the need for a large cabin for long-range aircraft that can deliver superior flight performance and safety," Rosanvallon says.
A significant and unique feature of the 7X is the fly-by wire and sidestick flight controls. Drawing again from the defence arm of the company, which has used this technology in fighters for over three decades, Dassault has created an industry benchmark that - combined with the EASy integrated flightdeck - promises to increase situational awareness and reduce pilot workload, especially in safety-critical situations, Dassault says. EASy is based on Honeywell's Primus Epic integrated avionics, and the fly-by-wire on three main computers and three secondary computers with an independent electrical back-up.
Dassault is eager to achieve its 7X first delivery target of late next year and plans to produce around 2.5 aircraft a month in 2007. The aircraft's interior will be installed at the company's Little Rock, Arkansas outfitting centre, where the virtual design system will see completion time cut dramatically, Dassault says.
"We may decide to ramp up production to three aircraft [a month] depending on the size of the orderbook," Rosanvallon says. But Dassault may be forced to re-evaluate its plans if supply chain issues, such as skills and raw materials shortages, begin to have an impact on the French manufacturer as they have on many of its US rivals.
| How they compare - Falcon 7X and competitors | ||||||
| Aircraft | Dassault Falcon 7X | Falcon 900EX | Bombardier Global 5000 | Global XRS | Gulfstream G450 | G550 |
| List price ($m) * | 37 | 34.7 | 33.5 | 45.5 | 33.5 | 45.8 |
| Crew/passengers | 3/8-19 | 3/8-19 | 3/8-19 | 3/8-19 | 3/8-19 | 3/14-19 |
| Cabin height (m) | 1.88 | 1.88 | 1.91 | 1.91 | 1.88 | 1.88 |
| Cabin width (m) | 2.34 | 2.34 | 2.49 | 2.49 | 2.24 | 2.24 |
| Cabin length (m) | 11.9 | 10.1 | 13.9 | 14.7 | 13.8 | 15.3 |
| Normal cruise Mach | 0.80 | 0.75 | 0.85 | 0.85 | 0.8 | 0.85 |
| Range (km) ** | 10,600 | 8,330 | 8,880 | 11,390 | 8,060 | 12,500 |
| @ speed (M) | 0.8 | 0.75 | 0.85 | 0.85 | 0.8 | 0.8 |
| Operating ceiling (ft) | 51,000 | 51,000 | 51,000 | 51,000 | 51,000 | 51,000 |
Notes: *standard equipped. **With eight passengers and NBAAIFR reserves
KATE SARSFIELD / BORDEAUX-MERIGNAC
Source: Flight International
