Dassault Remains Hopeful: Falcon 10X Eyed for France’s Next AEW&C System

As France leans towards Saab's GlobalEye, based on Bombardier’s Global 6000, Dassault Aviation chief Éric Trappier manifested “displeasure” for the Falcon 10X’s exclusion.

Last year, reports indicated that France was contemplating acquiring Saab’s GlobalEye AEW&C (Airborne Warning and Control) system as a replacement for its four aging E-3F Sentry AWACS (Airborne Early Warning and Control) planes. As per Opex360 , the home-market variant of Dassault Aviation's Falcon 10X was also noted in a recent update. hearing before the country's lawmakers in the National Assembly , where Dassault Aviation CEO Éric Trappier voiced his dissatisfaction with the potential choice of a foreign system.

Reports about France considering the GlobalEye AEW&C appeared on several occasions in 2024, with discussions around the matter thought to have taken place during French President Emmanuel Macron's January 2024 trip to Sweden. Intelligence Online reported in July 2024 about Paris having "finalized" a deal with Stockholm, but so far no formal announcement has been made in this regard.

These reports also followed the visit of a GlobalEye in France in April 2024, flying for five days from Mont-de-Marsan Air Base (BA118). The base is home of the Centre d'Expertise Aérienne Militaire (CEAM), which develops and tests new and/or upgraded systems for the French Air and Space Force.

In January 2024, the French newspaper Les Échos also suggested that the Falcon 10X satisfied all the requirements for the E-3F’s replacement, implementing the GlobalEye system as a “long-term project to Europeanize a major air defense system.” Dassault highlighted the benefits to the domestic ecosystem from its investments in the Mérignac region for the aircraft's production.

The Dassault Falcon 10X was also in the running for the country's next MPA (Maritime Patrol Aircraft) to replace its older 1960s era Bréguet Atlantique 2. Paris now appears to lean towards the Airbus A321 , after the French Defense Procurement Agency signed an agreement with the company for a risk mitigation analysis aimed at smoothing the shift from the conceptual stage to the production phase.

Saab GlobalEye and Dassault Falcon 10X

The S 106 GlobalEye AEW&C aircraft developed by Saab stems from the company’s Erieye airborne radar system, which has been utilized in various configurations including those based on the Saab 340 AEW, Saab 2000 AEW, and Embraer E-99 airframes. For the GlobalEye variant specifically, the Erieye radar is integrated into Bombardier’s Global 6000/6500 series of jets manufactured in Canada. Saab says.

The Erieye radar system, based around the PS-890 AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radar, is mounted in a distinctive ‘plank' above the carrier aircraft's fuselage. According to Jane's It allows a detection range of up to 450 kilometers for fighter-sized aircraft, varying with their altitude and radar cross-section.

In addition to the AEW&C capabilities, the enhanced Erieye ER system provides maritime surveillance through the integration of Leonardo’s SeaSpray 7500E radar, complemented by a FLIR Systems Star Safire 380-HD EO/IR turret. The system also includes GMTI (Ground Moving Target Indication) functionality.

The system is currently operational in Sweden and the UAE (United Arab Emirates), featuring two and five active units respectively. The integrated Saab GlobalEye-Bombardier Global 6000 aircraft has made its first A test flight conducted in March 2018 gathered substantial data during a 1 hour and 46 minute trial.

In the meantime, Dassault Aviation’s inaugural Falcon 10X ultra-long-range business jet is currently undergoing final assembly at their Bordeaux-Mérignac plant. AINOnline Reporting on April 8, 2025, the company indicated plans for a potential service launch towards the end of 2027. Additionally, they mentioned ongoing tests involving structural loads and material endurance limits using an experimental setup. Furthermore, as stated in the document, Rolls-Royce completed their evaluation flights for the Falcon 10X aircraft’s Pearl 10X powerplant sometime around late 2024.

The report was released one day prior to Eric Trappier, the Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation, appearing before the National Defense and Armed Forces Committee on April 9th. As stated in the document, Opex360 report, he "lamented" the choice of the Canadian aircraft to carry the Erieye ER system as part of the GlobalEye AEW&C system.

"It would still bother me if my Canadian competitor, even though I have a lot of respect for my competitors, entered the defense sector. It would bother me if Saab, which is not a particularly French company but which I like, came to do work on a Bombardier. I think it would be much smarter to have the people who already work on the Falcons in the Aquitaine region and elsewhere work there rather than working on a Canadian aircraft," said Trappier to the parliamentary panel.

E-3F Sentry AWACS modernization

The French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace) currently operates four E-3F Sentry AWACS aircraft, first delivered in the early 1990s. The F variant has French-specific modifications and flies with the CM56-2 turbofan engines built by France's Safran.

One of the E-3Fs, assigned to the 36th Airborne Detection and Control Squadron, was also tested with a Joint Range Extension (JRE) tactical communications suite on Mar. 18, 2025 by the CEAM (Military Air Expertise Center) at Kourou, in French Guyana.

The flight testing of the JRE validated its capability to allow "a tactical situation to be transmitted securely via a satellite link without range limitation." The CEAM added that the JRE capability, combined with surveillance and detection resources, has "strengthened the control and security of operations," marking a "strategic turning point in the use of surveillance aircraft."

The E-3F’s extensive suite of communication features enables it to send tactical situation data to ground command centers and fellow aircraft mid-flight, even though this capability is noted to have a limited range.

Nevertheless, the fleet keeps encountering issues, with a significant problem arising in October 2023 when the E-3F AN/APY-2 primary radar malfunctioned. Due to the large size and delicate nature of both the rotodome and the radar array, members of the Aeronautical Technical Support Squadron from the 36th Airborne Command and Control Wing devised a creative approach for conducting maintenance: they employed an air-filled cushion to prop up the assembly during repair work. Opex360 reported.

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