United States House members are pushing the Air Force to advance its electric "flying car" concept by forming a working group to transition the Agility Prime program into military use. This group will explore applications, develop a transition plan, and report progress to Congress annually.
By Shreya M
The Air Force should begin seriously considering how to bring its electric "flying car" concept to fruition, according to House members.
The House Armed Services Committee's proposed fiscal 2025 National Defence Authorization Act, which includes a subcommittee provision, mandates that the Air Force and the Pentagon form a working group tasked with converting their Agility Prime idea into actual programmes.
The Air Force's innovation branch, AFWERX, oversees the Agility Prime programme, which aims to collaborate with business to create and test electric vertical takeoff and landing, or VTOL, aircraft. Starting in 2020, the Air Force awarded contracts to over a dozen businesses for the production of these electric air taxis.
The service has already experimented with using electric aircraft developed by Joby Aviation and Beta Technologies to transport cargo or spare parts between bases. Earlier this year, it also carried out a mock casualty evacuation exercise using Beta's Alia, a conventional takeoff and landing aircraft.
The Air Force has also discussed the possibility of conducting combat rescue missions with technology derived from Agility Prime, as electric aircraft have a considerably quieter operating environment than conventional fuel-powered helicopters.
The proposed NDAA, as amended by the HASC's cyber, information technologies, and innovation subcommittee, would provide the Air Force six months to construct an Agility Prime transition working group that would remain in operation until the end of September 2027.
This team would be in charge of figuring out whether military programmes or other endeavours may make use of Agility Prime technology, such electric vertical takeoff and landing gear or autonomous flight capabilities. Additionally, it would create and implement a plan to transfer Agility Prime's skills to other programme executive offices across the armed forces that would need the usage of electric aircraft.
The secretary of the Air Force would lead this working group, which would also include representatives from U.S. Special Operations Command and U.S. Transportation Command, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the secretaries of the Army and Navy, the undersecretaries of defence for acquisition, sustainment, research and engineering.
The secretary of the Air Force would have to report to the defence committees of the House and Senate by the end of September 2025 on the military's progress in creating or acquiring electric or hybrid vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, as well as their plans to convert those technologies into military R&D or acquisition projects. For the next two years, there would be yearly reports.
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