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In January, the US Air Force selected 11 companies to proceed with the conceptual development of a high-speed vertical takeoff and landing (HSVTOL) aircraft. Initiated in the spring of 2021 as the High-Speed VTOL Challenge, the effort is a collaboration between AFWERX, the Air Force’s innovation hub, and US Special Operations Command (SOCOM).
In an event in California between Dec. 13–17, a member of the US Air Force Reserve remotely piloted Palo Alto, California-based Kitty Hawk’s Heaviside eVTOL aircraft.
The 2021 clicks are in and the results speak to the breadth and depth of the detailed stories published on eVTOL.news. Here are the top 10 feature articles published in 2021.
The US Air Force (USAF), in partnership with the US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), initiated the “High-Speed Vertical Take-Off and Landing (HSVTOL) Concept Challenge” in April (see “Industry Briefs,” Vertiflite, July/Aug 2021)
On April 7, United Parcel Service (UPS) announced that its UPS Flight Forward subsidiary plans to purchase and operate cargo aircraft from Burlington, Vermont-based Beta Technologies.
The US Air Force officially launched its Agility Prime initiative when it issued a request for information (RFI) on Dec. 17, 2019 — the 116th anniversary of the Wright Flyer making the first heavier-than-air powered flight. In the first intake of companies in the Air Force’s “Air Race to Certification,” some 20 eVTOL companies applied to participate.
This year, the US Air Force’s Agility Prime initiative will help finance the flight test and certification efforts of about 20 different eVTOL aircraft participating in its “Air Race to Certification” program.
The US Air Force’s AFWERX innovation organization announced on Oct. 26 that it intended to select more than 250 proposals as part of its “X20D” Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) open topic solicitation, a record in the program’s nearly three-decade history. This X20D solicitation was focused on the Agility Prime program, the AFWERX initiative to operationalize AAM/eVTOL for government missions in a way that accelerates the emerging commercial market.
The senior leadership of the United States Air Force witnessed their first flight of an electric powered VTOL aircraft on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020, when LIFT Aircraft gave a demonstration of its single-seat HEXA aircraft on the parade ground of Camp Mabry near downtown Austin, Texas.
On Aug. 20, 2020, the three top leaders of the United States Air Force had their first opportunity to see an electric powered vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft in flight during a visit to headquarters of the Air Force’s innovation hub, AFWERX, in Austin, Texas.
