The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is partnering with the U.S. Air Force to help support the safe integration of advanced air mobility aircraft into the National Airspace System.
Under an agreement signed during an Oct. 25 event at Duke Field in Florida, the agencies will exchange data and share capabilities and expertise for testing these emerging technologies.
“A new era of aviation is taking off and safe and efficient operations require collaboration,” said FAA technology development director John Maffei. “This data will help inform FAA certification efforts, policies, standards, and future airspace integration requirements.”
The FAA signed the agreement with AFWERX, a technology directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory.
“With this MOU and the ongoing AAM Interagency Working Group, we are accelerating a breakthrough in electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft,” said Col Elliott Leigh, AFWERX director and chief commercialization officer for the Department of the Air Force. “We are driving progress in propulsion technology, in manufacturing and materials, and in test and safety for a novel class of air vehicles.”
In July the FAA released an implementation plan detailing the steps it and others will need to take to safely enable advanced air mobility operations in the near term.
