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 a bill within the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act to significantly accelerate the integration of electric aircraft into military operations.
The legislation aims to boost the Air Force's Agility Prime program by establishing a high-level working group.
This working group would be led by the Secretary of the Air Force, include the secretaries of the Army and Navy, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with initial reports due by September 2025.

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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.