Dassault set to launch Falcon 8X at EBACE 2014 Alud Davies 17th March 2014, 5:11

Dassault will launch the Falcon 8X at EBACE 2014.

Dassault will launch the newest member of the Falcon family at the 2014 EBACE show, with the new Falcon 8X going under the previously reported internal project name of Falcon 7X M1000.

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Although Dassault started talking late last year about launching a new Falcon in 2014, the company did not disclose any details until Corporate Jet Investor reported that Dassault was developing an extended version of the Falcon 7X, under the code name M1000.

Corporate Jet Investor now understands that the new Falcon will be named the Falcon 8X and, as previously reported, will be a 1 meter stretch of the Falcon 7X, with 500 nm extra range.

Dassault will stretch the Falcon 7X by adding an additional meter to the main fuselage barrel and will re-work the the rear section of the fuselage, strengthening it to help deal with the additional fuselage weight.

Known internally at Dassault as T5, the rear section is separately manufactured part of the aircraft that has mounts for engines one and two – and the horizontal / vertical stabilisers – as well as the inlet housing for engine number three.

As well as the T5 section, the wings from the Falcon 7X will also be re-worked, with additional strengthening needed to balance the additional fuselage weight. This will also allow a greater fuel load to be carried, adding 500 nm on top of the Falcon 7Xs.

Although details of the Falcon 8X have only just begun to surface, it is understood that Dassault has been talking to potential customers for some time, but had decided to keep publicitity to a minimum to avoid impacting sales of the current Falcon 7X.

The Falcon 8X name fits in with the new Dassault naming convention, with the 8X following on from last year’s launch of the Falcon 5X and the the original Falcon 7X launched in 2007.

Dassault has also been talking to potential clients regarding the Falcon 9X, which the company hopes to launch in the next few years. This will continue the theme of stretching fuselages, as the Falcon 9X is said to be a stretch of the Falcon 5X currently in development.