Dassault Aviation CEO Charles Edelstenne on Friday made it clear that all design choices for its next Falcon business jet, a super-midsize aircraft codenamed SMS, have been reopened–including the engine. During a press conference at the company’s headquarters in Saint-Cloud, near Paris, Edelstenne also commented on the tricky economic situation, saying further layoffs might be decided by year-end.
For the SMS, Rolls-Royce had been selected two years ago to supply 10,000-pound-thrust-class RB282s. It now appears that even such a key decision is being questioned. “In our design process, Phase A is that of outlines and architecture. It was to end early this year. However, at this time, we saw we had not met our [economic and technical] goals. Therefore, I elected to prolong Phase A to the end of the year. Everything is open, including the choice of the engine. If you give yourself too many constraints, you cannot reach your targets,” Edelstenne said.
A Rolls-Royce spokesman later insisted his company has a strong business partnership with Dassault. “We continue to work with them on future program requirements,” he said. He added the RB282 concept is “sound” and Rolls-Royce is proud about the progress it made with it.
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