The House Armed Services Committee plans to direct the Air Force and the Pentagon to create a task force to study ways to apply the electric flying vehicle concept, which is part of the Agility Prime program, to the US military. The corresponding requirement is contained in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2025. Defense News writes about this.
Agility Prime is a program of the US Air Force's AFWERX innovation unit, which aims to collaborate with industry to develop and demonstrate electric vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, writes Focus. The U.S. Air Force will provide six months to create a task force to transition to Agility Prime, which will operate until the end of September 2027.
The task force will look for programs or other activities within the US military that could use Agility Prime's technologies, particularly electric flying vehicles. He will also develop and implement a strategy to transfer Agility Prime's expertise to other military program executive offices.
The working group will be headed by the head of the US Air Force. By the end of September 2025, it will be required to submit reports to the House and Senate defense committees outlining progress on developing or procuring hybrid or electric VTOL aircraft, as well as plans to transfer those technologies to defense acquisition or research. Subsequent reports will be submitted annually for the next two years.
As noted in the publication, since 2020, the US Air Force has already signed contracts with more than a dozen companies for the creation of the mentioned "flying vehicles". The agency has already floated the idea of using Agility Prime technology for combat rescue operations because electric planes can operate much more quietly than conventional fuel-powered helicopters.
The Air Force has previously tested electric aircraft built by Joby Aviation and Beta Technologies to transport parts or cargo to bases, and earlier this year conducted casualty evacuation exercises in Beta Technologies' Alia conventional takeoff and landing aircraft."
