USAF Committed to Commercial Success of eVTOLs Written 29 April 2020

Aviation Today reports that at the Agility Prime virtual kickoff event, “speakers from across NASA, the U.S. Air Force, the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration underlined the military and economic importance of U.S. leadership in the development of electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or eVTOLs.” USAF Secretary Barbara Barrett, Assistant Secretary of the USAF for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Will Roper, DOT Secretary Elaine Chao, “and many others sought to demonstrate the depth of the federal government and military commitment to accelerating and de-risking the development and deployment of eVTOL aircraft, both commercially and by the military.” Roper said, “Our value proposition in engaging with [eVTOL] systems is to bring those things – our ranges, our certifications – get these vehicles quickly through a military certification, start purchasing them, start flying them for military missions that will be radically transformed like logistics, base defense, disaster relief.” Agility Prime “plans to work closely with the FAA to translate commercial certification requirements into military ones and vice versa, said Frank Delsing, flight test lead at Air Force Research Laboratory.”
Full Story (Aviation Today)