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 proposed a bill to accelerate the military's integration of electric aircraft.
The bill would establish a high-level working group, led by the Air Force Secretary, to oversee the effort.
This group would include top officials from the Army, Navy, and Joint Chiefs of Staff, submitting progress reports.
The Air Force is already involved, contracting with companies like Beta Technologies for eVTOL development and testing.

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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.