AF Taps ‘Flying Car’ Firms For ‘Prime’ Investment; Expands Program

WASHINGTON: The Air Force is pushing out a rash of new initiatives to harvest cutting-edge commercial tech, including an effort to kick open new markets for next-generation space systems.

The ‘Space Prime’ effort is being modeled on the service’s high-profile Agility Prime project to ‘prime the pump’ for commercial use of ‘flying cars’ — electronic vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles — as a way for the military to then leverage both the technology and cost savings. Space was chosen as the next investment arena for the Prime program during last week’s Accelerate virtual event sponsored by the Air Force innovation hub AFWERX.

“Space has a lot of private commercial investment. There are new markets that are emerging for commercial reasons that could be helped by new warfighting missions being championed by the Space Force,” Air Force acquisition head Will Roper said Friday. He explained that just as Agility Prime is doing for flying cars, Space Force missions could open the door to commercial markets for new space-related tech and capabilities.

Roper hinted that the Air Force may launch yet another Prime project in the not-to-distant-future, focused on another dual-use technology. The Accelerate event featured in-depth discussion of five areas of interest for using the Prime concept: autonomous systems; gaming technology; micro-electronics; energy sources, use and supply; and ‘vector’ technologies for supersonic propulsion.

The Agility Prime program awarded its first flight-worthiness certification on Dec. 10 to Joby Aviation, based in Santa Cruz, Calif., for its four-person ‘taxi’ prototype. A second firm, Vermont-based Beta Technologies, is likely to get a similar certification early next year. Other firms are expected to follow since the idea is to create a competitive market that can sustain a number of players and foster innovation. The Air Force goal is to help the firms quickly build up enough flying time and testing to ensure safety of flight approval by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Roper has said that he hopes the service will be using such vehicles to transport troops and cargo by 2023. 

In addition, Roper last week announced the creation of two new AFWERX siblings: SpaceWERX, based at Los Angeles AFB where Space and Missile Systems Center is headquartered; and DigitalWERX, based in Dayton, Ohio near Wright-Patterson AFB, the home of Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC). Roper has made AFWERX his pet project since its standup in 2017; he expanded its responsibilities and elevated its status within the service. Like AFWERX, the two new hubs will hold ‘Pitch Days’ and other events as well as serve as an entry point for startups and small commercial firms which have little experience in dealing with DoD as a customer.

Roper said the Air Force has yet to settle on exactly what space tech the new Space Prime program will pursue. “We’re going to take a little bit of time to determine what area of space technology we’re going to focus on, but space is the place for 2021 and our Prime programs,” he said.

Col. Eric Felt, who heads AFRL’s Space Vehicles Directorate, told the Accelerate event that mission areas under consideration range from “space mobility and logistics” beyond traditional launch (i.e. point-to-point delivery of people and cargo through space being explored by Transportation Command and SpaceX) to “data access, data transport and the Internet in space.”

“We’re looking for things that are dual use,” he said. “We’re looking for things where we can make a difference with a small bit of money … We’re looking for things that have a near-term business opportunity that is going to get venture capitalists and other private investors excited about it, that’s going to lead to a big market.” The goal, he added, is for the Air Force to help create a market for game-changing tech that US businesses can lead and “dominate.”