Dassault Cancels Falcon 5X Engine Contract With Safran, Instead Chooses Pratt & Whitney
December 13 2017 - 1:14PM
Dow Jones News
By Robert Wall
LONDON--French business jet maker Dassault Aviation SA (AM.FR)
said Wednesday it would take the highly unusual step and drop
SAFRAN SA (SAF.FR) as its engine supplier on a brand-new aircraft
program after repeated delays.
Dassault Aviation said it had instead decided to power the
Falcon 5X with engines from Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp.
(PNW.YY), a unit of United Technologies Corp. (UTX).
The Falcon 5X already had its service entry delayed to 2020 from
2017 and faced further setbacks because of recently-discovered
problems with the French engine. The plane is now due to make it
into customer hands in 2022 with the powerplant, Dassault Aviation
Chief Executive Eric Trappier said in a statement.
Dassault Aviation in July completed the first flight of the
Falcon 5X with an early version of Safran's Silvercrest engine that
didn't meet performance goals.
Safran bet heavily on the Silvercrest engine that included new
technology to reduce fuel consumption, but repeatedly suffered
technical glitches. The French aircraft engine maker said recent
tests of the design showed it could meet performance targets.
Dassault decided anyway to proceed with contract termination citing
the "magnitude of the risks involved both on the technical and
schedule aspects of the Silvercrest program."
Safran said its 2017 financial guidance would not be affected
and that the company had already taken provisions for penalties
related to program setbacks.
Dassault said the test data gathered so far during flight tests
validated that the aircraft performed as expected aside from the
powerplant. Mr. Trappier said there was still a market demand for
the Falcon 5X.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 13, 2017 12:59 ET (17:59 GMT)
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