Wed, Apr 20, 2022
Agility Prime Contract Continues Evaluations on Crop of Contracted Providers
Eglin Air Force Base has been home to some unusual flight activity as Lift Aircraft's HEXA demonstrator has been put through the paces.
The Texan company received a phase 3 contract under the USAF Agility Prime Program, allowing it to continue experimentation and flight development. Elgin's 413th Flight Test Squadron oversaw the flight testing, sending an unmanned Hexa aircraft on a 10-minute jaunt at a height of about 50 feet. Lift has been working with the Air Force under the Agility Prime contract alongside several other notable eVTOL brands like Joby Aviation, Beta Technologies, and Archer Aviation.
The Hexa is the odd duck in the bunch, being a single-seat ultralight with capability for remote piloting. Lift says that the Hexa is useful for the usual range of aircraft missions often bandied about when selling an eVTOL - Emergency response, VIP transport, logistics, and search & rescue missions. With electric aircraft like the Hexa, the benefits speak for themselves: Operation is cheap, and often more reliable, with multiple motors and rotors situated for extra redundancy.
The 413th will continue to put it through its paces to see just how capable the platform is. Agility Prime is meant to lay the foundation for combat and service doctrine of the new field of aircraft, establishing standards of airworthiness, preparing the service to quickly integrate production-ready equipment once available, and writing the book on how to use eVTOL aircraft as part of the overall force ecosystem.
The Hexa's single seat is flanked by a web of 18 motors and props, with 4 outboard, wheeled floats that allow it to take off on land and water. It includes autopilot, semi-autonomous flight, and an array of safety features like a lightweight crumple zone and airframe parachute should things go sideways. Whether or not it can adequately compete against a field of higher-capacity, larger aircraft, remains to be seen, but Lift seems optimistic that their aircraft will do just fine.
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