- The U.S. Air Force has wrapped up testing of its electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft concept (eVTOL).
- The concept envisions buying a fleet of small electric aircraft that may perform utility tasks.
- The service is trying up to 3 different aircraft, and desires to purchase not less than one.
Deep within the sprawling California desert, the U.S. Air Force is testing a brand new concept that might revolutionize the best way it operates in wartime. Under a program called Agility Prime, the service is testing plenty of battery-powered vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft. The goal is to field a small, quiet aircraft that may take off and land anywhere, while being cheaper to fly and maintain than traditional fueled aircraft.
The Flying Jeep
Some of the useful vehicles of World War II was also the smallest: the Willy MB, also often called the Jeep. Small, easy to drive, and simple to take care of, the jeep gave GIs, Marines, and airmen a cross-country vehicle that might sustain with advancing Allied forces. It could transport supplies, medevac the wounded to assist stations, and transport personnel short distances.
Eighty years later, the U.S. Air Force wants a brand new vehicle that may do exactly those things, only it wants one which can take off and land like a helicopter and fly like a plane. The Agility Prime program’s mission is to acquire a flying jeep, one which further the service’s mission of scattering aircraft in wartime to many smaller bases, as an alternative of only one important base.
The Air Force is accustomed to flying from sprawling mega bases, with long, concrete runways, voluminous hangars, and ample weapons and fuel depots. As efficient as these bases are in peacetime, in wartime, the service predicts they’ll attract enemy attacks with cruise and ballistic missiles, especially in Asia and Europe. Under a brand new concept called Agile Combat Employment, in wartime, the service would quickly scatter airplanes and personnel from their mega bases to smaller, discrete bases, using civilian airports, dormant airfields, and even stretches of highway. The “Flying Jeep” would connect those bases, allowing the transfer of personnel, equipment, and even bases between them.
Electricity is the important thing to the hassle. Although batteries still don’t have the energy density of aviation fuel, using electric motors should lower maintenance demands and costs over maintaining traditional aircraft engines. Electricity as a fuel is less expensive and could be easily created at forward bases using solar panels. This also lowers demands on supply lines, reducing the necessity to ship aviation fuel forward.
The Three Candidates
The Air Force is trialing three recent eVTOL aircraft that fit the Agility Prime concept. In September 2023, Joby Aircraft delivered its “electric air taxi” (top) to Edwards Air Force Base, the service’s flight test facility in Southern California. The unnamed aircraft has six rotors that may rotate from the vertical position to support vertical helicopter-style flight and to the horizontal position, allowing it to travel in a more fuel-efficient mode typical of fixed-wing aircraft. Piloted by a single pilot with room for as much as 4 passengers, the aircraft has a top speed of 200 miles per hour, and may travel for 100 miles with energy reserves to spare.
The following entrant within the Air Force trials is the Beta ALIA eVTOL. The ALIA looks like a cross between a helicopter and the starship Enterprise, with twin nacelles above the aircraft fuselage. 4 propellers built into the nacelles provide vertical lift, but upon transitioning to horizontal flight, the propellers retract into the nacelles and propulsion is provided by a push propeller. The ALIA can transport as much as five passengers or 1,000 kilos of cargo, has a top speed of 138 miles per hour and a spread of 250 miles.
The third eVTOL aircraft is predicted to be the Archer Midnight. The Midnight is designed to fly at speeds of as much as 150 miles per hour with a spread of 100 miles. The aircraft will probably be able to carrying a pilot and 4 passengers or 1,000 kilos of cargo. In keeping with the corporate, the aircraft will probably be optimized to “back to back ~ 20 mile flights with only ~ 12 minutes of charge time in between.” The Midnight is currently within the FAA certification process, with delivery to the Air Force likely the following step.
The Takeaway
The appearance of eVTOL aircraft is being described because the “Third Revolution” in human flight, second only to the invention of flight itself and the primary jet aircraft. The U.S. Air Force could also be leading the hassle to field an eVTOL aircraft, but all the services, including the Coast Guard, may eventually wind up fielding the winner. Small, lightweight, and cheap, an electrically-powered vertical takeoff and landing aircraft has the potential to turn out to be almost as ubiquitous because the jeep itself.