Dassault Aviation has joined the engines, wings and fuselage of the first Falcon 8X, paving the way for initial power-on and the beginning of ground tests.

The 6,450 nm ultra-long range 8X was unveiled at the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition in Geneva in May. Due to be certified in mid-2016, it will build on the strengths of the fast-selling Falcon 7X, and will feature the longest cabin of any Falcon, offering customers the most diverse selection of cabin layouts.

The first 8X fuselage, built at Dassault Aviation’s Biarritz, France facility, arrived at the nearby main assembly plant in Mérignac near Bordeaux in May. The 8X wing, 600 lbs lighter than the airfoil on the 7X, arrived from Martignas outside Bordeaux in June and was mated to the fuselage at month’s end, along with the empennage.

Like all in-production Falcons, the airfoil on the 8X features Dassault’s proprietary piano junction design, which gives Falcons advantages in aerodynamic efficiency, robustness and ease of maintenance and reparability.

The Pratt & Whitney Canada PW307D engines, which will provide 5% more thrust than the PW307As that equip the Falcon 7X, were installed at the beginning of July.

First electrical power-on is expected at the end of the month, in line with production and test schedule. The 8X is due to make its first flight in early 2015 and to begin deliveries by the end of 2016.

“Production setup and jigs put in place for our new flagship benefit from our many years Product Lifecycle Management experience in terms of quality and manufacturing efficiency, and work is proceeding exactly as anticipated,” said Olivier Villa, Senior Vice President, Civil Aircraft, Dassault Aviation. “We are very pleased that the assembly went so smoothly. It was important since the first Falcon 5X is following the 8X by a few weeks. That’s a very exceptional situation.”

The Falcon 5X is also expected to be ready for ground tests by the end of the summer. The fuselage for the first aircraft arrived in Mérignac in June and will be mated to the empennage by the end of July. The 5X is scheduled to fly in the first half of next year and to enter service in 2017, in less than a year after the 8X.

Dassault press release