Start-up US aircraft developer Electra is launching a defence business to pursue military opportunities for its EL9 ultra-short take-off and landing concept aircraft.
Known as Electra Defense, the new unit was launched on 3 December at Electra’s headquarters in Manassas, Virginia outside of Washington, DC.
Overseeing the push into defence will be Donn Yates, a former US Air Force (USAF) fighter pilot who spent three years at Boeing Defense, Space & Security, including stints as manager of the T-7A trainer programme and head of business development for Boeing’s air dominance portfolio.
Yates left Boeing to join Electra earlier this year as its vice-president of government programmes.
He now shifts to be the general manager of Electra Defense, seeking to build on the momentum generated by a successful demonstration event with the USAF in August involving Electra’s EL-2 Goldfinch.
That demonstrator aircraft uses hybrid-electric propulsion to power eight wing-mounted propellers in a “blown-lift” configuration, which involves the propellers blowing air around and against the wings and flaps.
The blown-lift design generates greater lift than conventional wing-lift, allowing for take-off and landing over much shorter distances.
With the EL2, Electra has demonstrated the ability to launch and recover in as little as 45m (150ft).
For the EL9 successor, Electra aims to scale up the “ultra-STOL” technology from the two-seat Goldfinch to a larger aircraft able to carry nine passengers or 1,360kg (3,000lb) of cargo over a range of 1,100nm (2,037km) at a cruise speed of 175kt (324km/h).
“The military can no longer solely rely on trucks or helicopters to conduct logistics missions over long distances, and we need to preserve the efficiency of existing airlift assets,” says Yates.
“The multi-mission ultra-STOL EL9 is the sprinter van of the skies, enabling the military to execute agile combat employment to deliver people, power and payloads at the last tactical leg,” he adds.
A concept video release by Electra shows four EL9s launching unassisted from the flat deck of what appears to be an empty barge. The vessel bears some resemblance to the one of the US Navy’s Expeditionary Sea Bases – 240m-long vessels that serve as floating landing platforms and support sites for rotary-wing aircraft.
Electra’s official foray into defence comes just two weeks after the USAF published a recapitalisation strategy for Air Mobility Command, which operates the service’s fleet of Boeing C-17, Lockheed Martin C-130 and C-5M transports.
That document specifies that the USAF now plans to operate its heavy-lift C-5Ms until 2045, while the C-17 will continue flying for another 50 years until 2075.
The service plans to replace both inter-theatre transports with a new design to be developed under the Next Generation Airlift programme.
While the EL9 will not come anywhere close to the 74,800kg payload of a C-17, Electra clearly sees opportunity for a smaller airlift support platform at the tactical level.
The company has said it is targeting 2027 for the first EL9 flight, with entry into the commercial passenger market by 2029.
