Dassault Breaks Ground on Falcon 5X/8X Completion Center

Dassault Falcon Jet broke ground this week on an expansion and upgrade of its Little Rock, Ark. completion facility to accommodate the French airframer’s recently launched Falcon 5X and 8X. A 250,000-sq-ft hangar is part of the $60 million project, which adds production and completion space to the existing one million sq ft at the campus. Older hangars and the cabinet, upholstery and headliner shops will undergo a refurbishment.

This follows a $20 million improvement to the site in 2008 that added more than 100,000 sq ft, including new paint bays and facilities to accommodate the Falcon 7X. “This undertaking demonstrates a commitment to continue our investment in Little Rock and to ensure the facility will remain at the forefront of completion technology,” said Dassault Aviation chairman and CEO Eric Trappier at the ceremony. “Little Rock is not only the company’s largest industrial plant, it is also an industry leader in digital completion techniques, which Dassault pioneered.”

The company expects to complete the project in early 2016, before deliveries of the large-cabin 5X twinjet and ultra-long-range 8X trijet begin.