Replenishment by Electric Plane? Naval Ops May Join the Future Soon

The US Navy awarded Electra Aero a contract under their NAVAIR development program to test out the battery-powered, high-wing, short-takeoff aircraft for possible use.

Electra has been an unusually grounded and realistic developer in the race to create electric - but commercially viable - aircraft, and their selection by the ever pragmatic (okay, just sometimes kind of pragmatic) Navy folk speaks to that mindset. Their eSTOL is meant to be light and capacious, capable and affordable, allowing operators to take off from minimal strips of land thanks to its electric motors. Just like its terrestrial electric cousin in the auto world, motors don't suffer from the delays in delivering power like traditional combustion engines do, their full output is a half-second away.

The Navy evidently finds the concept functional in theory, seeing the Electra plane as a way to "address unique capability gaps", like providing short-haul logistics flights in contested environments or ship-to-ship deliveries. They aren't the only ones, since their Air Force cousins beat them to the Electra under their own AFWERX program. Sadly, the Navy didn't see fit to one-up them with some cool new renders of their custom aircraft, which is a shame, because their trademark white/orange is always a good look.

"We're honored to add the U.S. Navy to our portfolio of U.S. Department of Defense customers, including the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army," said Ben Marchionna, Electra's Director of Technology and Innovation. "Electra's eSTOL has all the right technology-enabled capabilities to help the Navy address next-generation aviation logistics challenges. With our differentiated combination of hybrid-electric propulsion and a blown fixed wing, we can offer Pacific theater-relevant payloads and ranges, and the ability to operate from rough soccer field-sized spaces as well as many naval vessels and adjacent assets, all from day one. Beyond boilerplate tactical logistics use cases, we also see this airplane as an enabler for expeditionary power generation, mesh networking, and even as an essential node for Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) employment. These are all gamechangers for force modernization initiatives within the Navy and Marine Corps."

FMI: www.electra.aero