Like the best of new airplanes, the Dassault Falcon 10X evokes those feelings all over again: As a pilot you want to fly it, and as an owner you want to buy it—and look forward to bringing your colleagues, family, and friends on board.
Every piece of the airplane, every design decision, every system integration, every late hour spent working through to solve a puzzle—all of that effort has been worth my similar effort in bringing it to you in human terms. Using real, evocative language that tells the story. Not just piles of numbers churned out of a press release or scraped from an online brochure.
That’s why I answered the call to Bordeaux this month, on the invitation of Dassault, to witness the unveiling of the latest Falcon ultra-long-range business jet.
From taking a full 360-degree view, I can report that several key differentiators—other than its impressive hangar presence—set the 10X apart from its competitors in the segment.
First and foremost, the 10X is poised to retain the legendary Falcon agility of the “short” landing distance (they’re aiming for less than 2,500 feet), combined with a top speed of Mach 0.925 and range of 7,500 nm that covers almost all of the world from Paris (except my family in Oz–we’ll have to make a fuel stop to get to Perth). And you can make that range near the top end of the tape. “You don’t lose a lot of nautical miles between Mach 0.88 and 0.90,” said Philippe Renier, technical sales manager for Falcon Aircraft at Dassault Aviation, during the pre-event briefings hosted by Dassault at Le Meridien Étoile in Paris, on March 10.
Everything else incorporated into the airplane follows this foundational premise.
The New Nexus Flight Deck
Dassault introduces its latest flight deck with the 10X, and NeXus incorporates the Falcon Eye SVS/EVS, the digital flight control stick (DFCS) inherited from the Rafale and implemented on the 6X, and a suite of displays (four large primaries, four secondaries, and two touch pads) with open world architecture to run apps. All physical keyboards have been replaced with virtual onscreen ones that appear in context, utilizing the Honeywell “scratch pad” concept.
Pilots will fly the 10X using dual HUDs that draw from the fighter-pilot philosophy of HOTAS (Hands-On-Throttle-And-Stick), which enables the pilots to keep their eyes outside. One example of this? Symbology borrowed from the Rafale allows the pilot to set power on the HUD without looking down at the throttle quadrant or primary display.
Auto flight modes expand into near “autoland” capability without saying it in so many words. The “RCY” (“Recovery”) push-button is located on the avionics dashboard, in front of the sidestick. I’d asked how long the system takes to respond in emergency descent mode (EDM), for example, after sensing pilot inactivity, but had not yet received a confirmation from Dassault on this.
A simplified overhead control panel (OCP) has been slimmed down even from the 6X, which already had reduced in size and density from the 8X—the goal to become less complex in the interface while the processing power does the heavy lifting—with fewer hard switches.
A Smart Throttle for Both Engines
Moving to the center console between the pilots, Smart Throttle manages the pair of Rolls-Royce Pearl 10X powerplants along with the airbrakes (spoilers), another legacy from the Rafale. Notches on the throttle’s throw identify specific configurations, such as MTO power. The spoiler control has been moved to a switch under the pilot’s thumb, and it enables direct management of drag.
The thinking behind this, according to Dassault spokesperson Vadim Feldzer, was “to have a differential control directly accessible, compatible with the different logic of automatic airbrake retraction or deployment depending on the speed, angle of attack, throttle position or landing gear compression during a landing or an RTO.”
Automated envelope protection gives operational speed protection, though it doesn’t engage the autothrottle per se but gives a nudge back to the safe arc. Other “smart” modes include a “soft climb” mode that keeps the pitch angle in check on initial climb-out, when it isn’t needed for a departure procedure or terrain clearance. Similarly, a “soft go-around” mode makes for a calmer transition in the back from approach to going missed. This is important, as those Pearl 10Xs will deliver a not-yet-specific “more than 18,000 pounds of thrust” at MTO power, according to Philip Zeller, Rolls-Royce senior vice president for the 10X program.
There are ETAKs (engine thrust adjustment knobs) for single-engine mode to freeze one powerplant at idle or shutdown. The ETAKs are located on the OCP, and there are two, one for each engine. They give commands for handling various abnormal situations that may affect one of the two engines. An ETAK takes control of the corresponding engine only when it is pulled and then turned. Once activated, an ETAK allows adjusting the engine speed by rotation (toward “+” to the right, toward “-” to the left) or to set the speed to idle in the context of a deposited procedure, according to Dassault.
Make It Go Fast
Dassault reduced drag via advanced aerodynamics on the constant-sweep composite wing, a flatter roof, and area rule applied on the boundaries between wing and fuselage, with optimized fairings. Also, the nose is turned up a bit to help the 10X perform better in cruise at high Mach numbers as well as streamlining in the area above the cockpit windows—a shape patented by Dassault.
The composite wing is built in a separate facility in Anglet, France, with a new production line for the 10X final assembly in Mérignac.
The T-tail is also a first in the Dassault Falcon line. In the process of initial design, the cruciform tail common to Falcon jets thus far didn’t perform as well at high Mach numbers. The choice of two engines over three also was driven by performance at high speed, owing to the specific design of the 10X.
And while the passengers enjoy the 38 spacious windows in the back, pilots can look forward to a truly grand windscreen from which to command the ship. The flight test engineering team has had ample opportunity to wring out the 10X virtually in the full flight simulator built for the testing program.
Cabin Accoutrements
Dassault designed an airplane that feels like home, in which a person can spend 15 hours and arrive refreshed. “The idea was the customer feels like [they are] in an apartment and not in a business jet,” said Philippe Renier during the morning’s pre-briefings. “You can live in the aircraft like you were at home; you can change easily from one lounge to another,” while flying through the air at Mach 0.90.
The OEM achieves this using a completely modular quartet of living areas. Customers working with Dassault’s design office can select from layouts that center classical dining, executive collaboration, a large bedroom or a small one, plus a galley set up like one’s home, a crew rest area—even a bathroom with an L-shaped shower for comfortable refreshment aloft.
Dassault retains its “library-quiet cabin” up to Mach 0.90—you make the trade-off at the higher speed, but since most cruise time will be flown in the sweet spot between Mach 0.88 and 0.90, that’s not a concern.
Inside, the environment stays fresh utilizing the OEM’s Pure Air cabin circulation—plus those 38 windows that are 30% larger than on the 6X and comprise a larger total surface area than those lining the cabin of any close competitor, according to the company.
Though the first customer aircraft will roll out of the factory at Mérignac, Dassault will continue to use its Falcon completions facility in the United States to finish the aircraft prior to entry into service. “Little Rock is our center of excellence when it comes to completion,” said Feldzer. “All aircraft will be fitted in our Arkansas facility.”
The Falcon Family
Dassault presents the current Falcon family as the 10X, 8X, 6X, and 2000XLS. That makes for two models in the ultra-long-range category, the 10X and the currently flying Falcon 8X with its 6,450-nm range. Dassault sunset the 7X in 2023, with its 5,950-nm range, with the imminent debut of the 6X, which stretches to a top range of 5,100 nm. Flight departments, charter operators, and private customers with shorter-distance city pairs can opt for the 6X or even the Falcon 2000XLS (with up to 4,000-nm legs).
“In fact when we launched the 8X, which was a derivative design from the 7X, offering more range and a longer cabin, we left the decision to the market to decide if it was worth keeping the two models in our product line,” said Feldzer in a response to AvBrief. “Since most of our customers expressed their preference for the 8X, we delivered the last remaining aircraft and ceased production of the 7X.”
Dassault confirmed that 2026 will be the last year for Falcon 900LX deliveries as well.
What’s Next?
With the first airframe fitted out for flight test, and the second one in full painted livery for the rollout, the first taxi tests will take place shortly from the factory in Mérignac. With 3,000 test hours already on the aircraft and more than 15,000 hours of bench testing of the avionics complete, that time should come soon when folks in Bordeaux will catch a glimpse of the 10X in primer and composite blue rolling across the ramp ready to get airborne.
Ooooo… All of those sweet digital thingies in the cockpit! I can see the Airbus sailing stately into the trees because the airplane decided it was landing, not going around as the pilots wanted. And just wait for the “Blue Screen of Death”!