Electra has been contracted by the US Navy (USN) to explore the use of its hybrid-electric short take-off and landing (eSTOL) aircraft for logistics missions in contested environments.

As part of the work, Electra will collaborate with the USN to define specific use cases and conduct a conceptual design study to evaluate how its aircraft can “address unique navy capability gaps”.

Electra EL-2 technology demonstrator aircraft-e-Electra

Source: Electra

Electra is currently flying its EL-2 technology demonstrator

“Electra’s eSTOL has all the right technology-enabled capabilities to help the navy address next-generation aviation logistics challenges,” says Ben Marchionna, the company’s director of technology and innovation.

Boasting a blown-wing design and hybrid-electric distributed propulsion system, Electra’s aircraft can cover distances of up to 434nm (804km) at a cruise speed of 173kt (321km/h). Crucially for the naval mission, it can take off and land from an area no bigger than 91m (300ft) by 30m – more than a third shorter than the flightdeck of the USN’s Nimitz-class aircraft carriers.

Electra has previously scored similar innovation agreements with the US Army and US Air Force.

Dominic Perry is deputy editor of Flight International but also contributes extensively to flightglobal.com. Although specialising in the coverage of the helicopter industry, he has written on most topics in aerospace – be they commercial, defence or business aviation. In addition, there has been an increasing focus on the decarbonisation of the industry and zero-emission flight initiatives.View full Profile

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