FLYING Magazine
Five years after Dassault Aviation announced its ultra-long-range Falcon 10X to compete with the likes of Gulfstream’s G800 and Bombardier’s Global 8000, the French manufacturer’s most ambitious business jet yet is airborne.
Dassault pilots Sébastien Dupont de Dinechin and Fabrice Dougnac took off Friday from Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport’s (LFBD) runway 23 and flew the 10X for two and a half hours on its debut test flight. The aircraft bears the French experimental registration F-WNXT.
The manufacturer said Friday that a second aircraft is nearing completion and will soon join its inaugural test article. It said a third aircraft is being outfitted with a full interior and will test the functionality and reliability of the cabin and its systems.
“All of us are excited to see this day as we launch into a new phase for the 10X,” said Dassault chairman and CEO Eric Trappier in a statement.
Dougnac and de Dinechin tested the 10X’s handling and systems while flying at 15,000 feet. They then retracted the landing gear and other movable surfaces and ascended to 40,000 feet, reaching a top speed of Mach 0.82. The model is intended to cruise at Mach 0.85 with a top speed of about Mach 0.925. It has a projected cabin altitude of 3,000 feet when cruising at 41,000 feet.
Per Dassault, de Dinechin said the flight “went as planned and was a delight to fly.”
“Today’s flight was the culmination of years of work by thousands of Dassault employees and partners,” he said.
Dassault’s Ultra-Long-Range Bet
Friday’s test flight was a long time coming. Dassault unveiled the first Falcon 10X in March at its production hall in France. But the company first announced the model back in 2021, with plans to bring it to market by 2025.
Since then, Gulfstream and Bombardier have introduced their first G800 and Global 8000 aircraft, which boast respective ranges of 8,200 and 8,000 nm. The Falcon 10X covers slightly less ground with a range of 7,500 nm.
Dassault, though, claims the 10X cabin is the most spacious in business aviation. Its cabin altitude of 3,000 feet while flying at 41,000 feet trails the Global 8000’s best-in-class mark of 2,691 feet. But the French manufacturer claims it has the largest cabin cross-section of any business jet, with a width of just over 9 feet and height of 6 feet 8 inches.
The 10X is designed to fit up to 19 passengers in three or four “living zones,” which have enough space for a dining room, private suites with full-sized bedrooms, and optional shower installation. Its 38 cabin windows are nearly 50 percent larger than those on the Falcon 8X.
To achieve a range of 7,500 nm with that large cabin, Dassault said the 10X incorporates an all-composite wing and new aerodynamics in the nose, fuselage fairing, and tail section that are designed to reduce drag. Potential routes could include New York to Shanghai or Los Angeles to Sydney.
Also key to the design’s efficiency are its two Rolls-Royce Pearl 10X engines, which generate more than 18,000 pounds of thrust and are controlled using a “smart throttle” system.
Rolls-Royce began flight testing the Pearl 10X in 2024 using a Boeing 747-200 testbed that it retired last year. Per a news release issued Friday, the six-month campaign comprised more than 25 flights during which the engine flew a distance of 36,000 nm. It racked up more than 4,000 testing hours before Friday’s test flight.
Per Rolls-Royce, the Pearl 10X is the most powerful member of the Pearl engine family. It is the company’s first engine to power a Dassault business jet and is compatible with both conventional jet fuel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
For pilots, the 10X’s NeXus flight deck incorporates touchscreen displays, a standard dual FalconEye Enhanced Vision System, and Dassault’s third-generation digital flight control system. The digital system replaces the conventional control column and wheel with a side stick controller and requires FAA special conditions for operations in the U.S.
Other features for the pilot include an upgraded heads up display, automatic recovery and terrain avoidance modes, and “fighter-inspired features that make the aircraft easier to hand-fly in challenging environments,” per a description from Dassault.