'Super Falcon' Will Be Fly-by-Wire Trijet

Dassault Aviation has launched the FNX-the newest member of the Dassault Falcon Jet family of business aircraft-at a ceremony attended by Serge Dassault and a gathering of the world's aviation press.

FNX will be a large cabin trijet designed to carry eight passengers at Mach 0.88 for 5,700 nmi-farther than the G-IVSP and Challenger 604-but not quite as far as the G-V or Global Express.

"The 5,700 nmi figure was not pulled out of a hat," said John Rosanvallon, president of Dassault Falcon Jet, speaking yesterday at Le Bourget. "We see this as the big gap in the market today, with a demand for around 400 aircraft."
The FNX will look similar to existing Falcon trijets, but with a redesigned nose and curved cockpit windows. An eight-foot stretch of the Falcon 900EX fuselage will allow a "three-lounge" configuration, with an optional crew rest area.

The aircraft's newly-designed wing will have five degrees more sweep and 40% more area than the current Falcon wing, a 1975 design that has reached its developmental limits. Rosanvallon said this new wing represents the "foundation block" for a new family of Falcon jets, of which the FNX is the first. Winglets were tested in the wind tunnel, he said, but will not be incorporated due to "negligible" performance gains.

Olivier Villa, Dassault's Falcon program director, said the desire to provide "at least the same" short-field performance as the Falcon 900EX influenced the wing design. Toward this goal, the new wing will have a complete set of flaps, slats and spoilers.
Powerplant selection is likely to be either the Honeywell AS907 or Pratt & Whitney Canada PW306. Villa said discussions with both powerplant manufacturers are proceeding.

The new Falcon will see Dassault's first civil use of fly-by-wire-a high-technology control system already in use on the company's Mirage 2000 and Rafale fighters.

Up front, FNX will have Dassault's new EASy cockpit-an adaptation of Honeywell's Primus Epic avionics system. Sidesticks are thought to be under consideration for the new business jet, as is a fully integrated flight management platform along Airbus lines.

Production of existing Falcon models-the 50EX, 900C, 900EX, 2000 and 2000EX-will continue as FNX development proceeds, though the new jet will get its own plant. Primary construction will be in France, with foreign suppliers sharing some of the risk.

A full FNX product launch does not hinge on a minimum number of orders, and Dassault said it already is accepting orders. "The chairman has given his go-ahead to the project," Rosanvallon said.

Dassault hopes to fly the FNX (a new name is pending) before the end of 2004, with first customer deliveries following by mid-2006. The FNX will be priced around 12% higher than the Falcon 900EX, which typically sells for around $32 million.

By Paul Richfield