Dassault is preparing to fly two new Falcons–the Falcon 5X twinjet and the Falcon 8X trijet, both large-cabin business aircraft–in the first half of 2015. Five test aircraft are thus expected to grace Dassault’s Istres, France ramp by the end of next year. The 5,200-nm Falcon 5X was announced at the 2013 NBAA show and the 6,450-nm Falcon 8X a few months later at EBACE 2014.
As the Falcon 8X is a derivative of the in-service Falcon 7X, its development is moving faster and it is slated to fly in the first quarter of next year. The first test aircraft has been put together; its electrical systems were powered up in July and the first engine run is scheduled for November. In mid-October, it was about to complete ground vibration tests at Dassault's Bordeaux Mérignac factory. About 500 vibration inducers were generating various frequencies. During a recent visit to that facility, AIN also could see the dedicated spike for the test pitot tube installed at the tip of the nose cone.
