Story ID: 
Falcon SMS ‘100 Percent Go’ at Dassault
By: Chad Trautvetter
Caption: Dassault’s still-under-wraps Falcon super-midsize (SMS) will be in a category above today’s Falcon 2000 series.
Word Count: 192
Dassault’s still-under-wraps Falcon super-midsize (SMS) will be in a category above today’s Falcon 2000 series, a company spokesman told AIN, thus clarifying where the future aircraft will be positioned in the French maker’s gamut. He confirmed it will be a twinjet with fly-by-wire controls, and it will use the latest iteration of the EASy flight deck (EASy II is the most current version). Entry into service of the Falcon SMS is still pegged for 2016. The detail design phase for the new jet has begun and more than 1,500 engineers are working on the program using Dassault Systems’ new four-dimensional Catia design software, Dassault senior vice president of civil aircraft Olivier Villa said this morning at the NBAA Convention in Las Vegas. While the French aircraft manufacturer isn’t releasing specifications or performance details, Dassault Falcon Jet president Jean Rosanvallon told AIN in no uncertain terms that the SMS program is “100 percent go,” meaning it is in fact a green-lighted program. “We’re just not releasing specific details for competitive reasons,” he said. Villa also noted that 2012 will be a record year for R&D funding at the company.