Germany’s DLR To Transform Dassault Falcon 2000LX Business Jet Into Research Test Bed

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The German Aerospace Center DLR and Dassault Aviation recently announced that DLR will acquire a Falcon 2000LX business jet from Dassault; the jet will be transformed into an iSTAR vehicle to test flight characteristics and serve as a test bed. (Photo courtesy of Dassault Aviation.)

With German Chancellor Angela Merkel in attendance, Dassault Aviation—which, along with Dassault Falcon Jet Corp., designs and manufactures the Dassault Falcon business jet—and the German Aerospace Center DLR, signed an agreement for DLR to acquire a Falcon 2000LX twinjet development aircraft Dassault has used for flight testing and development. DLR will transform the aircraft into an iSTAR (inflight Systems and Technology Airborne Research) vehicle for use in testing flight characteristics and to serve as a test bed.

Building A Test Bed

Specifically, DLR will use the Falcon 2000LX to test characteristics of new aircraft designs, including real or virtual, and piloted or unmanned, in real-world conditions. The aircraft will also provide a test bed for aerodynamics, aeroelasticity, structures, propulsion, flight control, and flight guidance applications, the companies report.

Once completed, the iSTAR vehicle will be based in Braunschweig, Germany, at DLR’s site but will be accessible to other national and European research institutes and aircraft manufacturers and suppliers. Dassault will initially transfer the aircraft to its facility at the Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport near Bordeaux, France, for an initial conversion to a conventional flight test bed; this work is scheduled for completion by 2020. Eventually, two more conversions will result in full iSTAR test bed capability; these should be completed in the mid-2020s, according to Dassault.

As a full-capability iSTAR vehicle, the aircraft will receive additional control surfaces, an experimental digital flight control system, an EASy II cockpit with EFVS (enhanced flight vision system), a Rockwell Collins head up display, and the Dassault Falcon Sphere II electronic flight bag suite.

Interdisciplinary Research

In a statement, Pascale Ehrenfreund, chair of the DLR executive board, characterized the 2000LX has having the “performance and safety margins” it needs for a research vehicle. Further, the vehicle will “considerably reinforce our ability to conduct interdisciplinary research across the entire aviation system,” he said. Eric Trappier, Dassault Aviation chairman and CEO, meanwhile, noted the iSTAR vehicle will “greatly contribute to improving the safety and efficiency of man and unmanned aircraft, which is our top priority in the aviation industry.”

Elsewhere, Rolf Henke, DLR executive board member for aeronautics, said the iSTAR vehicle provides DLR a powerful tool se to access flight characteristics of newly designed aircraft configurations in realistic situations. “It will greatly facilitate the development of new environmentally friendly and efficient aircraft configurations and components,” he said. “Moreover, it will permit the in-flight evaluation of increasingly automated pilot assistance systems, including auto-taxi and take-off, and enhance the testing of unmanned aircraft and their integration into the controlled airspace.”

Along with Rafale military fighters, Dassault Aviation manufacturers a family of Falcon business jets that includes the Falcon 8X, Falcon 7X, 900LX, 2000LXS, and 2000S for sale. If you are in the market for a pre-owned Dassault Aviation aircraft, you'll find a variety of options on Controller.com.

Source: Dassault Aviation

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