Dassault Aviation has rolled out the Falcon 10X at its facility in Bordeaux-Mérignac, France, revealing the first of four flight test prototypes after an extensive ground test campaign.
The aircraft was unveiled on March 10 before more than 400 customers, partners and aviation leaders at the purpose-built production hall for the Falcon 6X and 10X final assembly lines. The program now moves into the flight test phase, with first flight expected soon.
Originally announced in May 2021 with a late-2025 service entry target, the program slipped approximately two years due to supply chain disruptions.
Dassault’s official target remains late 2027 certification and first deliveries, though Trappier indicated to Reuters at the rollout event that deliveries would come toward the end of the decade.
Composite wing and structural validation
The Falcon 10X is the first business jet to feature an all-composite wing, designed and manufactured at a dedicated composite wing center of excellence in Biarritz, France. The wing saves approximately 900 lb (408kg) compared with an equivalent metal structure, reducing weight in other areas including the landing gear and lowering overall thrust requirements.
The 10X wing entered static testing in summer 2022 at the Biarritz facility. By mid-2023, the wing demonstrator had completed 10,000 fatigue cycles with a target of 20,000, and the structure was validated to ultimate stress loads, the 150% of design limit load required for certification. The wing features a higher aspect ratio and greater sweep of 33.7° compared with 30° on the Falcon 8X, and integrates four slats, six spoilers and two flaps per side, all tied into the Digital Flight Control System (DFCS).
Pearl 10X engine completed certification after Arizona flight test
The Rolls-Royce Pearl 10X completed its certification test campaign for EASA in October 2024. Ground testing began at Rolls-Royce’s facility in Dahlewitz, Germany, where the engine exceeded its target thrust on the first run and accumulated more than 1,000 bench test hours by mid-2022.
The engine’s flight test campaign launched in April 2024 from Tucson, Arizona, using the company’s Boeing 747-200 flying testbed. Over approximately 25 flights covering 41,000 miles (66,000km), pilots and engineers evaluated engine performance up to 45,000ft (13,716m) and speeds of 690mph (Mach 0.9), including inflight relights, nacelle anti-icing and fan vibration assessments.
The Pearl 10X delivers more than 18,000 lb of thrust from its Advance2 core and features a 10-stage high-pressure compressor with six blisked stages. During bench testing, the engine was run on 100% sustainable aviation fuel, with back-to-back comparisons against Jet A-1 confirming lower levels of non-volatile particulate matter. The ultra-low-emissions combustor incorporates 3D-printed additive layer manufacturing tiles — a first for a Rolls-Royce production engine.
Rolls-Royce FTB. The shape of its fan blades makes an interesting comparison with the blades of the legacy RB211s outboard
Speaking at the rollout event, Dr Dirk Geisinger, director, business aviation at Rolls-Royce, said, “Today is a very special day for Rolls-Royce and the team. We are excited and proud to deliver the thrust for this extraordinary aircraft and I would like to congratulate the Dassault family as well as the Falcon team on this special occasion.”
Fighter-derived flight controls and NeXus cockpit
The 10X introduces the third generation of Dassault’s digital fly-by-wire flight control system in a business jet, evolved from the Rafale fighter’s architecture. The DFCS integrates all primary and secondary flight controls including flaps, slats, spoilers and nosewheel steering into a single digital system, advancing the technology introduced on the Falcon 7X in 2007.
A Rafale-derived single-lever Smart Throttle manages both engines through one control, automatically balancing power and assisting pilots with noise-abatement climbs, stabilized go-arounds and one-engine-inoperative scenarios. The combined digital authority of the DFCS and Smart Throttle enables the first automatic recovery mode in a large business jet, returning the aircraft to straight-and-level flight from any attitude at the press of a single button.
(Image: Dassault Aviation)
Dassault accumulated more than 4,500 hours of systems testing on ground rigs before rollout, according to the company. Two multi-system integration benches at the Istres flight test center near Marseille replicate the full flight deck and subsystems, while a third bench at Saint-Cloud validates the NeXus cockpit and Smart Throttle.
The NeXus flight deck is built on Honeywell’s Primus Epic platform and features four 14in touchscreen displays and a total of eight high-definition screens. Standard dual FalconEye combined vision system head-up displays (HUDs) provide fused enhanced and synthetic vision with a 30×40° field of view, enabling approaches down to 100ft (30m) in low visibility. FalconScan, the onboard diagnostic system, monitors more than 100,000 parameters in real time using patented algorithms for fault detection and fleet-wide trend analysis.
Flight test campaign and certification timeline
As of November 2025, three of four planned flight test aircraft were structurally complete with Pearl 10X engines installed. The production network spans the Biarritz composite wing facility, a Factory 4.0 manufacturing site at Seclin in northern France and the Bordeaux-Mérignac final assembly line, with interior completions to be handled at Dassault’s facility in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The 10X has a maximum range of 7,500 nautical miles (13,890km) at Mach 0.85, a top speed of Mach 0.925 and a maximum certified altitude of 51,000ft (15,545m). The cabin measures 9ft 1in (2.77m) wide and 6ft 8in (2.03m) tall, with a volume of 2,780ft³ (78.7m³) and cabin pressure maintained at a 3,000ft equivalent at cruising altitude.
Eric Trappier, president and CEO of Dassault Aviation, said, “Dassault Falcons have always been at the vanguard of business aviation, and the 10X is no exception, embodying the very best technology available today. From the user perspective, the equation is simple: an objectively better experience.”
