Hybrid Air Vehicles Limited Public Funding

The Sustainable Aviation Test Environment (SATE) project will deliver a Regional Sustainable Aviation Strategy for the Highlands & Islands. This will establish a roadmap for new technologies to enter service in the region and quantify the commercial and social benefits that the improved connectivity will deliver. The Highlands and Islands region accounts for more than 50% of the land mass of Scotland, but less than 10% of the population, and the work seeks ultimately to improve connectivity to some of the UK's most remote and rural areas, and by doing extend the significant contribution to economic and social development of the communities in the region already identified by earlier work. The project brings together a key group of stakeholders to strengthen the planning and delivery of regional transport: local councils who represent communities requiring improved cost-effective connectivity; businesses looking for improved routes to market; technology partners attracted by a meaningful and scalable regional deployment; airport operators; subject matter experts; and the statutory regional transport partnership. In response to the need to decarbonise aviation, new technologies offering low or zero carbon emissions have been developed and demonstrated. These technologies have been applied to a wide range of aircraft; small, large, conventional take-off, vertical take-off, crewed and uncrewed. These offer a range of solutions that can be optimised into an integrated regional air mobility system that adds capacity and capability, and a social and business dividend, to the existing transport services. This strategy will confirm the roadmap for these technologies to enter service and informs the policy necessary to bring the new services to reality. It will also quantify the specific environmental, cost-effective, and connectivity benefits.

Based at Kirkwall Airport in the Orkney Islands, the Sustainable Aviation Test Environment (SATE) is the UK's first low-carbon aviation test centre embedded at a commercial airport. SATE brings together an international consortium of industry partners, public sector bodies and academia who will work with a range of regional businesses and stakeholders to apply state-of-the-art aviation technology to deliver targeted economic growth. SATE's overarching objectives include: * Demonstrating the next generation of air services * Ensuring airports operations are ready to support sustainable aviation requirements * Improving regional connectivity * Supporting Scottish Government's ambition for a Highlands and Islands Net Zero Aviation region by 2040 SATE has already established itself at the forefront of future aviation. Recent successes include Ampaire demonstrating the first hybrid-electric flights in Scotland and Windracers trialling autonomous flights for delivering Royal Mail cargo between Kirkwall and North Ronaldsay. These practical outcomes have raised the profile of SATE, putting the project on the global stage. SATE will now expand to create the UK Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Regional Aviation Systems, enabling pre-commercial demonstrations of novel aviation technologies with proven use cases to commercialise clean innovation in a real-world environment. Use cases will include: * Scheduled airline routes * Offshore energy services * National Health Service activities * Island / remote region deliveries * Environmental survey and inspection Implementation of these will require advances in technology, regulation, and policy. These are reflected in the cross-cutting activities which include: * Establishing a dedicated test environment airspace * Matchmaking technology to community and business needs * Accelerating technology innovation * Mapping out the future Highlands and Islands aviation system Kirkwall Airport is one of eleven airports operated by HIAL and an ideal test environment location due to the variety of operated routes (including short hops to inter-island airfields operated by Orkney Islands Council). The wider project team includes leading technology developers ZeroAvia, Windracers and FlareBright. EMEC brings expertise in green-hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, and HITRANS will lead on connectivity into the wider transport system. The socio-economic impact of a new regional-aviation system will be supported by UHI, Connected Places Catapult (CPC) and Aracadis. This project will also stimulate inward investment and supply chain growth which is a key responsibility for Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE). Project highlights will include working with the CAA to approve a regional sandbox airspace, establishment of a UAV hub-and-spoke delivery network, a first hydrogen-propelled regional-aircraft flight and an international demonstration flight to Norway.

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E-HAV1 will develop electric flight propulsion system technologies at very high power density aligned to market needs for these high power motor and drive systems and will demonstrate them in a representative ground test environment with a suitably sized propeller to validate the performance of the resulting prototypes and the modelling tools developed during the programme.

Airlander is a revolutionary new aircraft that combines the best characteristics of fixed wing aircraft, helicopters and lighter than air technology. It can remain airborne for up to 5 days at a time, carry a payload of 10 tonnes and land/take-off from any reasonably level surface including water. Airlander 10 is currently optimised for defence and security roles. This project is focussed on understanding how best to utilise Airlander’s unique capability to address the vast luxury tourism market. The challenge is to understand the value proposition offered by the aircraft and the best means of delivery formed through the early stage human centred design process. A successful project will deliver a design blueprint and initial roadmap for the commercialisation of a luxury tourism model of the aircraft. It will also facilitate the development of a new culture, supplementing HAV's functional and engineering focused methodology with human centred creative design thinking. Our chosen sub-contractor Design Q has extensive experience in insight led design, specialising in the early stage design and build of luxury business jet interiors. During the project we aim to exploit key contacts, gain insight and market understanding to provide sound foundations for the success of this offering.

Hybrid Air Vehicles Ltd has formed a collaborative industrial research team with Blue Bear Systems Research, Forward Composites, Liverpool University, Sheffield University and Cranfield University. This project team will advance the fundamental and interrelated enabling technologies required to maintain the UK's lead in the field of hybrid air vehicles – a novel aircraft form with substantial worldwide sales potential (against competitors such as Lockheed Martin and EADS). The project will focus on lowering the developmental risks in key technology areas such as novel aircraft aerodynamics, carbon composite structures, avionics monitoring systems and improving rate production to enable launch of production design and manufacture. The project results will be exploited by HAV and the UK aerospace supply chain generating UK jobs and maintaining HAV’s lead in the field of hybrid air vehicles and LTA technology.

Awaiting Public Summary