A few months ago, we welcomed a project with the strange name of Big Frog in the Passion for Innovation program.  Big Frog is an audacious project to compete in the Reno Air Races with a diesel engine and yet win thanks to faster, greener aerospace design. 

For a limited time Big Frog itself is on display at Dassault Systèmes Campus.  Boy was everyone surprised Monday morning when they saw the splendid, shiny, black carbon aircraft on display! 

Yes, using our CATIA and SIMULIA solutions, the Big Frog team integrated the diesel SMA engine to this 100 percent composite racer and brought several betterments to the aircraft.  All these operations were conducted with the help of our experts.

We were delighted when the Big Frog team decided to display the aircraft at Dassault Systèmes to celebrate this important step on their road to Reno.   We’re proud to have this “Formula 1 with wings” on site!

It seems that Reno Air Races organizers have also understood that something special was cooking here. As a matter of  fact, Big Frog has just just been moved up from Sport Class to Super Sport Class, a development that has fired up the team with even greater enthusiasm.

There’s still much work and training to do before the race in September 2010.  Reno Air Races are introduced by the ritual sentence “Gentlemen, you have a race” issued from the pace aircraft. Today, we cas proudly say “Gentlemen, we have a plane!”

Best,

Richard