Dassault Aviation’s U.S. subsidiary has broken ground on a $60 million expansion of its completion center in Little Rock, Arkansas, that will be used to finish the company’s two newest models.
Deliveries of the Falcon 5X twinjet and Falcon 8X trijet are expected to commence in 2016, by which time the 250,000 square feet of new space will be finished at the Little Rock plant. The expansion will account for 20 percent of the facility's 1.25 million square feet when the project is finished.
“This undertaking demonstrates a commitment to continue our investment in Little Rock and to ensure the facility will remain at the forefront of completion technology,” said Dassault Aviation Chairman and CEO Eric Trappier, in a news release. “Little Rock is not only the company's largest industrial plant, it is also an industry leader in digital completion techniques, which Dassault pioneered.”
The French firm has been building aircraft in Little Rock for more than 40 years. State officials including the governor were on hand for the groundbreaking.
