On Tuesday, Textron eAviation announced it will loan a Pipistrel Velis Electro to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., where it will be showcased for the next three years. Textron acquired Pipistrel and the Velis for $235 million in 2022.

“This contribution represents a major milestone in actively promoting sustainable aviation technology to educate the next generation of aviators, while also strengthening our position as leaders in reducing the industry’s impact on the environment,” said Kriya Shortt, president and CEO of Textron eAviation.

The Velis Electro, winner of the 2021 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Aircraft Design Award, will be a unique addition for the museum, which largely features aircraft that no longer fly.

It received European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) type certification in 2020, becoming the first electric aircraft in the world to reach the milestone. In March, it earned a light sport aircraft (LSA) exemption from the FAA, opening up flight training using electric aircraft in the U.S.

In 2021, flight school Florida Tech became the first in the country to own and fly (in the experimental category) an electric aircraft when it purchased the Velis. The following year, a student pilot flying the model became the first in the U.S. to earn a pilot private certificate in an electric airplane.

Even the U.S. military is interested in the aircraft—last year, AFWERX, the innovation arm of the Air Force, picked the Velis for its Agility Prime aircraft development and flight test program. The initiative seeks to uncover military applications for commercial designs that have yet to hit the market.

Soon, members of the public will have the opportunity to see the Velis Electro up close and personal at the National Air and Space Museum’s upcoming exhibition next year.

“As we endeavor to tell stories about innovations occurring right now in aerospace, Textron eAviation’s loan of a Pipistrel Velis Electro allows us to explore the topic of sustainability efforts in aviation,” said Roger Connor, a curator at the museum.

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At the Farnborough International Airshow in the U.K., Boom unveiled Overture’s flight deck, built around technology from partner Honeywell, and predicted it will have a full-scale engine core operational by 2025. The company also announced Tuesday it secured a Symphony assembly and testing facility through an expansion of its existing partnership with StandardAero.

Boom aims to fly Overture in 2026 ahead of a planned 2029 commercial rollout with airlines worldwide. A supersonic demonstrator aircraft, the XB-1, completed its maiden voyage in March.

Overture’s state-of-the-art flight deck runs on Honeywell’s Anthem avionics suite, which is also the system of choice for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft manufacturers Lilium and Vertical Aerospace.

According to Boom, it will be the first airliner to feature force-feedback sidesticks, which give pilots a physical response to the aircraft’s movement as well as inputs made by the copilot or autopilot.

Like something out of a science fiction film, Overture pilots will don augmented reality goggles during takeoff and landing. The headset, built by Universal Avionics, uses multiple cameras and sensors to fill any gaps in the pilot’s vision. Boom says this is intended to eliminate the droop nose configuration seen on aircraft such as Concorde—the only successful supersonic airliner in history. The views seen through the goggles will also appear on the flight display, and an autolanding system will assist pilots on the way down.

Breakers and buttons are replaced by high-definition, 17-inch touchscreen displays, while some physical controls such as stick, throttle, and landing gear remain. However, Boom says all aircraft functions can be accessed through software, which will receive routine over-the-air upgrades.

Already, the new flight deck has been tested by real-world airline, business, and military pilots, including Mike Bannister, the former chief Concorde pilot for British Airways. In a recent evaluation, commercial airline pilots cruised over the Atlantic Ocean at supersonic speed before flying into London Heathrow Airport (EGLL).

“After experiencing Overture’s flight deck, which is incredibly well designed and delightful to fly, my excitement and enthusiasm for this aircraft has only intensified,” said Bannister, who now works as an aviation consultant.

Separately, Boom gave several updates on the progress of its Symphony engine program, most notably that it expects to have a full-scale engine core operational within 18 months despite unveiling the program less than two years ago.

The company will collect data on the core via testing, which will inform the development of other components such as the compressor and turbine section. Those parts will come from newly announced partner ATI Inc.

Fuel nozzles and other 3D-printed parts have already been produced, and Boom has begun testing certain hardware components. It plans to conduct more than 30 engine hardware rig tests with partner Florida Turbine Technologies (FTT), which helped design the technology.

“We are on schedule as we pursue critical component rigs for compressors, combustors, and bearings and are developing a ‘Sprint Core’ engine demonstrator that will provide valuable confirmation of engine component performance prior to finalizing the engine design,” said Stacey Rock, president of turbine technologies for FTT owner Kratos.

Symphony engines will be built and tested at a StandardAero facility in San Antonio, which Boom projects will one day include 100,000 feet of manufacturing space. The company plans for its partner to produce as many as 330 engines per year.

“We are excited to expand our role to include the assembly and testing of Symphony engines, further supporting the development of next-generation flight with Boom,” said Russell Ford, CEO and chairman of StandardAero.

Next up for Boom will be the second test flight of the XB-1, a smaller, less powerful version of Overture.

The company’s flagship model is intended to carry 64-80 passengers at Mach 1.7—just over 1,300 mph, twice the speed of subsonic airliners—while cruising at 60,000 feet.

Blake Scholl, founder and CEO of Boom, previously told The New York Times that the company’s goal is to fly passengers anywhere in the world within four hours for just $100. Concorde, for comparison, flew at Mach 2.0 and cost passengers thousands of dollars per trip. 

Unlike Concorde, though, Overture can run on 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel. The aircraft will only fly at supersonic speeds over water, since the FAA has banned those flights over land.

So far, Boom has racked up more than 130 orders and preorders for Overture, including from United, American, and Japan Airlines.

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The two-seat model is primarily designed for flight training and owns European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) CS-23 and FAA Part 23 certification. It is now certified under Transport Canada’s Part V Subpart 21, allowing Tecnam to begin deliveries to private owners and flight training organizations in the country.

Designed to train students from first flight until they earn their commercial pilot license, the P-Mentor includes a variable pitch propeller, simulated retractable landing gear, and ballistic parachute. It also comes with a Garmin touchscreen and avionics and is powered by a Rotax 912iSc3 engine.

The model supports both VFR and IFR training at a cost of operation of just 89 Canadian dollars ($64.71) per hour, by Tecnam’s estimate. That efficiency enables it to fly for about nine hours between refuelings.

The company also claims the P-Mentor can reduce flight school emissions by as much as 60 percent. The aircraft could represent a fresh injection into a fleet of training aircraft that is largely aging.

“We look forward to working with all the Canadian flight schools to improve the quality of training and support lowering hourly rates,” said Giovanni Pascale Langer, managing director of Tecnam.

During last year’s EAA AirVenture, Tecnam introduced the P-Mentor in North America after agreeing to a deal with EpicSky Flight Academy for the purchase of 15 aircraft. The company earned full FAA Part 23 certification just a few months later. It started U.S. deliveries in June, beginning with a shipment to Kansas-based Kilo Charlie Aviation.

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The manufacturer’s EL-2 Goldfinch, which first flew in May, got its first off-runway action when it lifted off from a grassy area smaller than 300 feet near a company facility in Manassas, Virginia.

The company has multimillion dollar contracts across the military, with the Air Force, Army, and Navy all exploring the use of eSTOL technology. The relatively cheap, runway-independent aircraft are viewed as an attractive alternative to conventional fixed wing aircraft and rotorcraft

Electra said the demonstrator completed several takeoffs and landings, climbing at a steep angle of 32 degrees. The aircraft did not require electric charging infrastructure, as many electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxis do, because its propulsion unit charges the batteries in flight.

All the while, the Goldfinch produced just 55 decibels of noise, equivalent to the volume of a typical conversation, while flying overhead at 500 feet. Electra says its full-scale design, which will carry nine passengers or up to 2,500 pounds of cargo on trips up to 500 sm (434 nm), will be inaudible from the ground at its typical cruise altitude.

It seeks to certify a full-scale model under FAA Part 23 regulations by 2028.

“eSTOL technologies increase the number of available landing sites by orders of magnitude relative to traditional fixed wing aircraft while providing for higher cruise speeds, lower costs, and lower noise than vertical lift solutions,” said JP Stewart, vice president and general manager of Electra. “These first flights from a field demonstrate the beginnings of this strong capability that we will continue to develop.”

Electra’s eSTOL achieves its incredibly short runway requirement through the use of blown lift propulsion. Airflows are guided over the wing into flaps and ailerons that redirect them toward the ground, adding to thrust from the aircraft’s eight electric motors. This allows the vehicle to take off at what Electra describes as neighborhood driving speeds.

Though the manufacturer has several commercial customers lined up for its flagship design, it also views the eSTOL as ideal for airlift operations and agile combat employment, a U.S. Air Force doctrine that calls for the rapid deployment of assets to dispersed locations.

The military will be its first customer, but Electra in January surpassed 2,000 aircraft preorder sales from private partners including JSX, Bristow Group, and JetSetGo.

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The manufacturer describes the Wingman model as a “fighter-type drone” that could be commanded by the pilot of an existing combat aircraft, such as the Eurofighter Typhoon.

Like a wingman in the traditional military aviation sense, it would support the mission lead with augmented capabilities. But unlike crewed fighter aircraft, it could take on high-risk missions that pose a threat to human personnel, receiving commands from a pilot that is shielded from exposure to risk.

“The German Air Force has expressed a clear need for an unmanned aircraft flying with and supporting missions of its manned fighter jets before the Future Combat Air System [FCAS] will be operational in 2040,” said Michael Schoellhorn, CEO of Airbus Defence and Space. “We will further drive and fine-tune this innovation made in Germany so that ultimately we can offer the German Air Force an affordable solution with the performance it needs to maximize the effects and multiply the power of its fighter fleet for the 2030s.”

FCAS is a European defense and security initiative aiming to develop a “system of systems” that delivers all of the capabilities and functionality of its constituent subsystems. Airbus co-leads the program alongside Dassault Aviation and Spain’s Indra Sistemas.

At the core of FCAS will be a Next Generation Weapon System, in which uncrewed remote carriers work together with a New Generation Fighter (NGF): a sixth-generation fighter jet intended to replace Germany’s Typhoons, France’s Dassault Rafales, and Spain’s McDonnell-Douglas EF-18 Hornets by the 2040s.

Both the uncrewed aircraft and NGF will be connected to a “Combat Cloud” comprising sensor nodes in space, in the air, on the ground, at sea and in cyberspace.

“[Remote carriers] will fly in close cooperation with manned aircraft, supporting pilots in their tasks and missions,” Airbus explains on its website. “Military transport aircraft such as Airbus’ A400M will play an important role: as motherships, they will bring the Remote Carriers as close as possible to their areas of operation before releasing up to 50 small—or as many as 12 heavy—remote carriers.”

According to Airbus, Wingman is designed to carry weapons and “other effectors.” It would be able to perform a range of tasks, including reconnaissance, target jamming, and firing missiles. Pilots would always be in control and act as the final decision makers from the safety of a larger aircraft, allowing the uncrewed aircraft to do the work.

“An additional focus is on increasing the overall combat mass in an affordable manner so that air forces can match the number of opposing forces in peers or near-peers in conflicts,” Airbus said Monday.

The company said the 1:1 Wingman model on display at ILA Berlin will be akin to a “show car,” featuring various concepts and capabilities that may not make it onto the final design.

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Over the course of two flights on May 15 and 16 at MacDill Air Force Base (KMCF) in Florida, engineers gathered data that will inform the development of the company’s autonomous flight system, Merlin Pilot. Intended to reduce the workload of pilots amid the ongoing pilot shortage—but not replace them, at least in the short term—the technology has also drawn the attention of government agencies, including the Air Force.

Merlin engineers observed Air Force pilots as they performed various tasks and maneuvers. The goal of the campaign was to identify areas where automation could be most useful for safety, efficiency, and cost savings. Teams gathered data on pilot priorities, for example, to implement automation in a way that could allow pilots to focus on the most critical tasks.

“The data collected during these flights is critical to our phased approach to autonomy, starting with reduced crew operations, and to materially evolving our advanced automation systems,” said Matt George, CEO of Merlin. “Being able to observe multiple aerial refueling flights and see exactly how pilots are focused on critical tasks like take-off, landing, and communications in operational military use cases has given us valuable insight.”

Physical assessments, observations, and crew interviews were conducted to determine how certain KC-135 operations could be integrated into the autonomous system.

The data will further be used to support a contract between Merlin, the Air Force, Air Mobility Command (AMC), and Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) to design, integrate, test, and perform in-flight demos of Merlin Pilot on the aerial refueling tanker. The Air Force previously enlisted Merlin to explore reduced crew capabilities for the Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules and is looking to automate other aircraft, such as the KC-46A Pegasus and UH-60A Blackhawk.

The FAA has also shown interest in Merlin, awarding it a $1 million contract for automated cargo network flight trials in Alaska, which the company completed successfully in July. Other aircraft that have been equipped with Merlin Pilot include the Beechcraft King Air, de Havilland Twin Otter, Cessna Caravan, Long-EZ, and Cozy Mark IV.

Merlin is seeking supplemental type certification from the FAA and has already obtained a Part 135 air operator certificate from New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority, which covers air operations for helicopters and small airplanes.

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Last week, Kendall got in the cockpit of a self-flying fighter plane during a historic flight at Edwards Air Force Base (KEDW) in California. The aircraft—called the X-62A Variable In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft, or VISTA for short—is a modified F-16 testbed and represents the Air Force’s first foray into aircraft flown entirely by machine learning AI models.

As Kendall and a safety pilot observed, the X-62A completed “a variety of tactical maneuvers utilizing live agents” during a series of test runs. Incredibly, the aircraft was able to simulate aerial dogfighting in real time, without Kendall or the safety pilot ever touching the controls. According to the Associated Press, VISTA flew at more than 550 mph and within 1,000 feet of its opponent—a crewed F-16—during the hourlong simulated battle.

“Before the flight, there was no shortage of questions from teammates and family about flying in this aircraft,” Kendall said. “For me, there was no apprehension, even as the X-62 began to maneuver aggressively against the hostile fighter aircraft.”

It wasn’t VISTA’s first rodeo. In September, the Air Force for the first time flew the uncrewed aircraft in a simulated dogfight versus a piloted F-16 at the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards. The department said autonomous demonstrations are continuing at the base through 2024. But Kendall’s decision to get into the cockpit himself represents a new vote of confidence from Air Force leadership.

“The potential for autonomous air-to-air combat has been imaginable for decades, but the reality has remained a distant dream up until now,” said Kendall. “In 2023, the X-62A broke one of the most significant barriers in combat aviation. This is a transformational moment, all made possible by breakthrough accomplishments of the ACE team.”

ACE stands for Air Combat Evolution, a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program that seeks to team human pilots with AI and machine-learning systems. The Air Force, an ACE participant, believes the technology could complement or supplement pilots even in complex and potentially dangerous scenarios—such as close-quarters dogfighting.

“AI is really taking the most capable technology you have, putting it together, and using it on problems that previously had to be solved through human decision-making,” said Kendall. “It’s automation of those decisions and it’s very specific.”

ACE developed VISTA in 2020, imbuing it with the unique ability to simulate another aircraft’s flying characteristics. The aircraft received an upgrade in 2022, turning it into a test vehicle for the Air Force’s AI experiments. 

VISTA uses machine learning-based AI agents to test maneuvers and capabilities in real time. These contrast with the heuristic or rules-based AI systems seen on many commercial and military aircraft, which are designed to be predictable and repeatable. Machine learning AI systems, despite being less predictable, are more adept at analyzing complex scenarios on the fly.

“Think of a simulator laboratory that you would have at a research facility,” said Bill Gray, chief test pilot at the Test Pilot School, which leads program management for VISTA. “We have taken that entire simulator laboratory and crammed it into an F-16, and that is VISTA.”

Using machine learning, VISTA picks up on maneuvers in a simulator before applying them to the real world, repeating the process to train itself. DARPA called the aircraft’s first human-AI dogfight in September “a fundamental paradigm shift,” likening it to the inception of AI computers that can defeat human opponents in a game of chess.

Since that maiden voyage, VISTA has completed a few dozen similar demonstrations, advancing to the point that it can actually defeat human pilots in air combat. The technology is not quite ready for actual battle. But the Air Force-led Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) and Next Generation Air Dominance programs are developing thousands of uncrewed aircraft for that purpose, the first of which may be operational by 2028.

The goal of these initiatives is to reduce costs and take humans out of situations where AI could perform equally as well. Some aircraft may even be commanded by crewed fighter jets. The self-flying systems could serve hundreds of different purposes, according to Kendall.

Even within ACE, dogfighting is viewed as only one use case. The idea is that if AI can successfully operate in one of the most dangerous settings in combat, human pilots could trust it to handle other, less dangerous maneuvers. Related U.S. military projects, such as the recently announced Replicator initiative, are exploring AI applications in other aircraft, like drones.

However, autonomous weapons, such as AI-controlled combat aircraft, have raised concerns from various nations, scientists, and humanitarian groups. Even the U.S. Army itself acknowledged the risks of the technology in a 2017 report published in the Army University Press.

“Autonomous weapons systems will find it very hard to determine who is a civilian and who is a combatant, which is difficult even for humans,” researchers wrote. “Allowing AI to make decisions about targeting will most likely result in civilian casualties and unacceptable collateral damage.”

The report further raised concerns about accountability for AI-determined strikes, pointing out that it would be difficult for observers to assign blame to a single human.

The Air Force has countered that AI-controlled aircraft will always have at least some level of human oversight. It also argues that developing the technology is necessary to keep pace with rival militaries designing similar systems, which could be devastating to U.S. airmen.

Notably, China too is developing AI-controlled fighter jets. In March 2023, Chinese military researchers reportedly conducted their own human-AI dogfight, but the human-controlled aircraft was piloted remotely from the ground.

Leading U.S. defense officials in recent years have sounded the alarm on China’s People’s Liberation Army’s growing capabilities, characterizing it as the U.S. military’s biggest “pacing challenge.” The country’s AI flight capabilities are thought to be behind those of the U.S. But fears persist that it may soon catch up.

“In the not too distant future, there will be two types of Air Forces—those who incorporate this technology into their aircraft and those who do not and fall victim to those who do,” said Kendall. “We are in a race—we must keep running, and I am confident we will do so.”

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California-based MightyFly this week announced what the company is calling an “industry first” FAA authorization, granting it permission to test its recently unveiled 2024 Cento within a flight corridor between New Jerusalem Airport (1Q4) and Byron Airport (C83) in California.

MightyFly says the approval, obtained in March, is the first for a large, self-flying cargo eVTOL in the U.S., with “large” denoting a weight greater than 55 pounds. According to the FAA, the company’s UAS has a maximum takeoff weight of 550 pounds. MightyFly in January received an FAA special airworthiness certificate (SAC) and certificate of waiver or authorization (COA) to establish the corridor.

“This route is designed to connect the existing operating areas around the airports while ensuring the UAS does not overfly the city of Tracy or impact Stockton [Metropolitan Airport], which is Class D airspace,” the FAA told FLYING. “MightyFly needed the new authorization to operate in the area, but they could have started testing inside the operating areas that were previously approved.”

The firm’s March approval, which it obtained via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, includes a COA authorizing a flight corridor up to 5,000 feet agl between New Jerusalem and Byron airports. The COA opens the ability for the company to perform what it terms “A-to-B flights” within the corridor’s general aviation airspace, allowing it to test aircraft range, among other things.

Following ground testing at its headquarters and test site, MightyFly began flying the 2024 Cento at the corridor’s origin airport on March 4. In the span of two months, the company has completed more than 30 autonomous flights, or about one every two days.

Future testing will include A-to-B flights. Eventually, it will expand to additional use cases and markets, MightyFly says.

“This is a solid vote of confidence from the FAA in our work and our ability to perform safe autonomous flights in the general aviation airspace,” said Manal Habib, CEO of MightyFly. “We now look forward to demonstrating point-to-point delivery flights with our partners in this space.”

The authorization also contains a SAC that will allow MightyFly to test Cento’s beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) capabilities, which are considered key for enabling drone delivery at scale.

BVLOS refers to the drone operator’s ability (or lack thereof) to visually monitor the aircraft in the sky. In lieu of a final BVLOS rule, the FAA awards these permissions to select companies via waiver or exemption. But for safety reasons most companies must keep their drones within view of the operator.

However, technologies such as detect and avoid and remote identification have the potential to replace human observers as they mature. MightyFly will test Cento’s detect and avoid systems and long-range command and control (C2) datalink communications while the self-flying drone is trailed by a chase airplane.

The SAC also authorizes MightyFly to begin point-to-point autonomous deliveries and proof of concept demonstrations with customers and partners. These will include deliveries of medical and pharmaceutical supplies, spare parts and manufacturing components, and consumer goods within the flight corridor.

Future demonstrations include several planned point-to-point autonomous cargo delivery flights in Michigan under a contract with the state’s Office of Future Mobility and Electrification. The company is also scheduled to demonstrate Cento’s ability to autonomously load, unload, and balance packages for the U.S. Air Force in 2025. These flights, MightyFly says, will mark its “entry into the expedited delivery market.”

The 2024 Cento, MightyFly’s third-generation aircraft, is designed for expedited or “just-in-time” deliveries. Potential customers include manufacturers, medical teams, first responders, retailers, and logistics, automotive, and oil and gas companies.

The third-generation drone is built to carry up to 100 pounds of cargo over 600 sm (521 nm), cruising at 150 mph (130 knots). Under full autonomy, it is expected to be able to land at a fulfillment center, receive packages, fly to a destination, unload its cargo, and take off for its next delivery.

MightyFly’s Autonomous Load Mastering System (ALMS) autonomously opens and closes the cargo bay door, secures packages in (or ejects them from) the cargo hold, and senses the payload’s weight and balance to determine its center of gravity. The company is working with the Air Force and its Air Mobility Command to develop ALMS.

Another key differentiator for the 2024 Cento is its flexibility. The drone can handle a variety of cargo contents, densities, loading orders, and tie-down positions. That means customers won’t need to standardize their packaging or order loading processes to accommodate it. The aircraft can carry refrigeration boxes, for example, which are often used in the healthcare industry to transport organ donations or blood bags.

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The company introduced its latest flight simulator technology, AX-D Flex: a “roll-on, roll-off” solution designed to train pilots on multiple aircraft, from business jets to midsize airliners, within a single mothership. Each simulation bay can accommodate up to three different cockpits, which can be swapped out in two hours or less, the company says.

Roll-on, roll-off flight simulators—which allow pilots to train on a variety of aircraft within a single system—are uncommon, but not unheard of. CAE and GlobalSim, for example, sell systems billed as roll-on, roll-off.

However, Axis says its solution is the first such simulator with a front-loading mechanism, which makes it simpler to switch between cockpits. The nonsimulated area, where the instructor and observer sit, stays in the simulator.

“Training providers are typically required to install specific simulators for different aircraft types,” said Christian Theuermann, member of the Axis executive board. “The launch of AX-D Flex will redefine the landscape of flight simulation, offering a cost-effective solution that allows pilots to train a variety of different aircraft types.”

According to Axis, AX-D Flex enables software-based avionics simulation using commercial off-the-shelf components that are “OEM-quality” and is designed to reduce maintenance costs and pilot downtime.

The mothership houses AX-D Flex’s basic structures, including the core motion and visual display systems. Accompanying it are “swap units” comprising a cockpit module and base frame, which contains computers and other technical devices.

With the front-loading system—which uses a stationary forklift—the swap units, including larger cockpits, can be lifted from the mothership and replaced with new modules. A pilot could go from simulating a business jet like the Bombardier Challenger 300 to a midsize airliner such as the Boeing 737 Max within two hours.

The simulator interior’s track-mounted seats can be repositioned according to the cockpit being loaded in. The transition requires a maximum of two technicians, Axis says.

“Our hardware team has extensive experience in designing components that exceed industry standards,” said Helmut Haslberger, director of hardware development and production management for Axis. “Through our precision control and electrical systems, we’ve designed a seamless lifting mechanism to allow smooth transitions between cockpits.”

The U.S. military also has an interest in multipurpose simulators. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), for example, has modified an F-16 into an AI-controlled test aircraft that can simulate the conditions of other aircraft while flying. U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall earlier this month said he would get in the cockpit of the self-flying airplane. 

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Regent on Thursday announced it has signed memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) and the Emirate of Abu Dhabi’s Department of Municipalities and Transportation (DMT), with an eye toward building an electric seaglider ecosystem in the UAE. The manufacturer is targeting a “pilot operational campaign” in the country within the next few years.

The announcement was made at the inaugural DriftX, a two-day conference in Abu Dhabi showcasing the latest innovations in air, land, and sea transportation. The ADIO is one of the event’s main sponsors.

“With our growing backlog of $9 billion in seaglider orders rapidly spreading throughout the Gulf, the Red Sea, Indo-Pacific, and Europe, we need a way to effectively manufacture and deliver seagliders across the Eastern Hemisphere,” said Billy Thalheimer, co-founder and CEO of Regent. “We have been thrilled by the dedicated and rapid support of ADIO.”

Thalheimer told FLYING at DriftX that Regent believes the Middle East, which is flush with large cities lining coastal areas, is a key geographical market. As a company with global ambitions, it views Abu Dhabi—which sits near the center of the world’s hemispheric divide—as an ideal hub for manufacturing and other facilities.

Regent’s flagship, zero-emission seaglider, Viceroy, seats up to 12 passengers. With existing battery technology, the aircraft is capable of flying routes as long as 180 sm (156 nm) on a single charge. But the manufacturer predicts it will one day have a range of 500 sm (435 nm) as batteries improve.

Viceroy is designed to combine the speed of an aircraft (cruising at 180 mph or 156 knots) with the functionality and low operating cost of a boat. It will serve almost exclusively coastal regions and use existing dock infrastructure, flying 20 to 30 feet above the water using ground effect. Propulsion both in the air and on the water comes from the aircraft’s on-wing propellers, allowing the aircraft to move both forward and backward.

Interestingly, Viceroy operators are actually maritime captains—the vehicle’s only controls are boat controls, which are simpler than those on most aircraft. When flying, the captain can make the aircraft perform a left turn, for example, using these simplified controls. Landing is accomplished with the push of a button. But Regent will offer a roughly six-week training course that awards graduates with a seaglider endorsement, according to Thalheimer.

“I’m a pilot. A lot of our founding team members are pilots. And so much of pilot training is learning the feel, the stick and rudder, the takeoff, the flare,” Thalheimer told FLYING at DriftX. “You don’t need to do any of that in this vehicle because of the automatic flight control system that we’ve built.”

With ADIO, Regent will collaborate to localize seaglider development and manufacturing capabilities within Abu Dhabi’s Smart and Autonomous Vehicle Industry (SAVI) cluster, with the expectation that local manufacturing capabilities will be in place by the end of the decade.

SAVI, unveiled last year by ADIO and the Abu Dhabi’s Department of Economic Development (ADDED), comprises an urban hub of state-of-the-art facilities and services dedicated to advancing all forms of transportation within the Emirate.

“With immense speed and efficiency, I’m confident Abu Dhabi will see the global deployment of electric seagliders, and these will dramatically change how goods and people move between the world’s coastal areas going forward,” said Badr Al-Olama, director general of ADIO.

ADIO will also assist Regent with workforce development, supply chain efficiency, vehicle integration, and aircraft delivery infrastructure support.

Regent’s collaboration with Abu Dhabi’s DMT will largely center on the integration of electric seagliders into the UAE’s existing transportation network. The partners will focus on “high impact routes,” such as between the cities of Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah, at the country’s northern tip. Another example might be service between the Abu Dhabi mainland and the islands of Dalma and Sir Bani Yas, located more than 100 miles outside the city of Abu Dhabi.

Regent unveiled its first full-scale electric seaglider mockup in April 2023. Already, it says it has secured more than 600 aircraft orders, including one from Mesa Airlines—which works closely with United Airlines—for 200 aircraft.

Regent views coastal passenger transport as the biggest opportunity for its seaglider. However, the company also sees applications in sightseeing, cargo delivery, offshore logistics, maritime patrol, and more. All of these could potentially be developed in the UAE.

In 2022, Lockheed Martin Ventures and Yamato Holdings, a Japanese logistics and parcel delivery firm, made strategic investments in Regent. Lockheed Martin said its investment is meant to speed the development of seagliders for defense applications specifically.

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