Dassault and Safran agree terms on Silvercrest dispute

The Falcon 5X flew for the first time on July 5.

Safran has come to a settlement agreement with Dassault, following the French aircraft manufacturer’s dropping the Safran Silvercrest engines from its Falcon 5X business jet.

The Silvercrest engines were due to power the Falcon 5X but, following multiple delays, Dassault cancelled the Falcon 5X program.

Under the terms of the agreement, Dassault will receive $280 million in compensation from Safran. All other parts of the original agreement, including Safran’s cash contribution to Dassault, remain unaffected.

Dassault says that the agreement will have a positive impact on its 2018 financial results.

Launched in October 2013, the Falcon 5X was due to be a twin-engine business jet capable of flying 5,200nm.

The prototype aircraft was rolled out in June 2015, but issues with the engines pushed back the first flight by two years to July 2017. During the first flight, the Falcon 5X had to fly with preliminary versions of the Silvercrest engines.

A further delay to the programme came in December 2017, which would have pushed the 5X’s entry into service back to 2022.

Dassault then decided to cancel the programme.

Following the cancellation in December 2017, Dassault announced in February 2018 that it was working on a new aircraft that would use the Falcon 5X fuselage cross section.

Named the Falcon 6X, the new aircraft will use Pratt & Whitney Canada PW800 series engines.