Agility Prime

Researchers with the Rand Corporation find that the Air Force’s Agility Prime program is not delivering results for itself or its partners.

The company’s Alia model moved up to 500 pounds of cargo at a time over the course of a monthlong exercise involving two major commands of the U.S. Air Force.

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.

The electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) manufacturer has now committed a total of four aircraft to U.S. Department of Defense sites.

The light eVTOL manufacturer is working with AFWERX, the innovation arm of the U.S. Air Force, to assess the aircraft for a range of use cases.

The installment is expected to be the first of many for Archer, which signed contracts with AFWERX Agility Prime worth up to $142 million in July.

The agreement extends the company’s three-year partnership with AFWERX Agility Prime, the innovation arm of the Air Force dedicated to vertical lift.

The AFWERX SBIR Direct-to-Phase II agreement will develop tools to enable on-demand air taxis for the Air Force.

The Air Force’s AFWERX division will deploy up to six aircraft for personnel transport, logistics support, rescue operations, and more.

Vermont-based electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developer Beta Technologies announced Wednesday it has raised $375 million in Series B funding, bringing its total investments to nearly $800 million.