Archer Aviation, a developer of all-electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, announced an agreement with the United States Air Force (USAF) to establish a collaborative strategy to explore the technical readiness and suitability of Archer’s eVTOL aircraft for USAF purposes.

As Archer continues its work towards achieving FAA Type Certification of its eVTOL aircraft, flight testing information will enable the USAF to better identify opportunities for early adoption of Archer’s eVTOL aircraft with the potential for procurement and fielding in the next three years.

As part of the agreement, Archer will provide the USAF and the AFWERX Agility Prime Office with data from certain of its upcoming flight tests for the purposes of furthering the USAF’s understanding of its aircraft’s capabilities, systems and development progression.

AFWERX Agility Prime is a non-traditional program seeking to accelerate the commercial market for advanced air mobility vehicles. The goal of the partnership is to conduct testing of airworthiness of Archer’s demonstrator aircraft, Maker, which is targeted to begin flight testing in the months ahead.

Partnerships like this will enable the USAF to work closely with the designers and engineers behind the groundbreaking new technologies that are making eVTOL flight a reality. We believe that eVTOL aircraft represent a great leap forward in aerospace and we’re excited to be working on this new era of sustainable transportation.

—Colonel Diller, USAF