Dassault's EASy 2 cockpit is moving toward its certification, which is expected for the Falcon 900 in the second quarter of next year. The cockpit system will be ready on the Falcon 7X and 2000 by late 2012, around the same time as additional communications functions will be certified.

EASy 2 builds on the much-lauded EASy cockpit that is standard in the Falcon range. It is based on Honeywell's Primus Epic integrated avionics system but has a Dassault-designed interface that draws heavily on the company's fighter work with the Rafale. EASy 2 introduces many new features, the most immediately obvious being the provision of a 3-D horizon integrated primary flight display in place of the EASy's separate ADI and HSI.

The new system incorporates a synthetic-vision system using digital terrain elevation data (DTED) level 2 and features XM satellite weather updates in near-real time. Previous XM updates did not refresh fast enough to be certified for use as a navaid, but the new system can be employed to guide aircraft around bad weather cells rather than just advise the crew.