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The Air Force has experimented with electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft under the Agility Prime program in recent years.
House lawmakers want the Air Force to start seriously thinking about how to make its electric “flying car” concept a reality.
A subcommittee’s section of the House Armed Services Committee’s proposed fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act would require the Air Force and the Pentagon to set up a working group dedicated to transitioning its Agility Prime concept into programs that can be used operationally.
Agility Prime is a program run by AFWERX, the Air Force’s innovation arm, to work with industry to develop and demonstrate electric vertical takeoff-and-landing aircraft, or VTOLs. The Air Force issued contracts to more than a dozen companies beginning in 2020 to create these electric air taxis.
The service has already experimented with electric aircraft created by Joby Aviation and Beta Technologies to transport spare parts or cargo around bases, and conducted a simulated casualty evacuation exercise with Beta’s Alia — this one a conventional takeoff-and-landing aircraft — earlier this year.
The Air Force has also floated the idea of using Agility Prime-derived technology to conduct combat rescue operations, since electric aircraft can operate much more quietly than traditional fuel-powered helicopters.
House lawmakers want the Air Force to start seriously thinking about how to make its electric “flying car” concept a reality.
A subcommittee’s section of the House Armed Services Committee’s proposed fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act would require the Air Force and the Pentagon to set up a working group dedicated to transitioning its Agility Prime concept into programs that can be used operationally.
Agility Prime is a program run by AFWERX, the Air Force’s innovation arm, to work with industry to develop and demonstrate electric vertical takeoff-and-landing aircraft, or VTOLs. The Air Force issued contracts to more than a dozen companies beginning in 2020 to create these electric air taxis.
The service has already experimented with electric aircraft created by Joby Aviation and Beta Technologies to transport spare parts or cargo around bases, and conducted a simulated casualty evacuation exercise with Beta’s Alia — this one a conventional takeoff-and-landing aircraft — earlier this year.
The Air Force has also floated the idea of using Agility Prime-derived technology to conduct combat rescue operations, since electric aircraft can operate much more quietly than traditional fuel-powered helicopters.
