RAF buys Falcon 900LX

As a replacement for the four BAe146 aircraft, the Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) department, the UK Ministry of Defence's (MoD) procurement arm, finalised a GBP80 million contract with Bristol-based Centreline for acquiring two Dassault Falcon 900LX corporate trijets.

The contract with Centreline includes the purchase of the aircraft and two years of initial support, plus three option years if required. The Falcons will initially be operated by a mixed crew of civilian and RAF personnel. The aircraft will be upgraded with missile jamming systems and military communications to deliver full capability and crewed by RAF personnel.

On 23 January 2022 Scramble Magazine reported on the fate of the four BAe146s, two BAe146 CC2 and two BAe146 CC3. The first two will/have find/found their way to museum collections and the latter two have been sold to Pionair Australia.

The new Falcon 900s will most probably be operated by 32 (The Royal) Squadron at RAF Northolt. It is not known when the two Falcon 900LX will be delivered. The LX version is the same as the current production variant of the Falcon 900EX fitted with blended winglets and has a range of 8,800 km.

Photo (just illustrative) by Gideon van Dijk