Legislators Want Military to Speed Up Electric Aircraft Integration

The U.S. Air Force began investigating electric aviation’s potential military applications in 2020, but now lawmakers want the effort to be ramped up.

Wednesday, May 22, 2024 at 03:31 PM ET

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U.S. Air Force airmen and civilian Contractors inspect and take photos of Lift Aircraft’s Hexa aircraft during Emerald Warrior 22.1 at Hurlburt Field, Florida, May 3, 2022. [Courtesy: U.S. Air Force]

Key Takeaways:

A U.S. House subcommittee has proposed legislation, as part of the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, to significantly accelerate the integration of electric aircraft into military operations.
The bill aims to boost the Air Force's existing Agility Prime program by establishing a high-level working group, including the Secretaries of the Air Force, Army, Navy, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to oversee the effort.
This initiative seeks to advance the military's current electric aviation development, which already includes contracts and testing of eVTOL aircraft, and mandates regular progress reports from the Air Force Secretary until 2027.

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Stars and Stripes is reporting a U.S. House subcommittee has proposed a bill aimed at speeding up integration of electric aircraft into military operations.

Since 2020, the U.S. Air Force has had a program called Agility Prime to look at electric aviation’s potential uses, but now legislators want the effort to be ramped up. As part of the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, the bill would “set up a working group made up of top-ranking defense officials” to kick-start Agility Prime, and it’s throwing some major brass at it.

Russ Niles

Russ Niles is Editor-in-Chief of AVweb. He has been a pilot for 30 years and joined AVweb 22 years ago. He and his wife Marni live in southern British Columbia where they also operate a small winery.