JetZero, a Long Beach aviation startup, has been awarded a $235 million contract by the U.S. Air Force to develop a sleek and fuel-efficient next-generation airplane.
The project entails creating a more fuel-efficient aircraft using a blended-wing body design. Initial testing of a prototype is expected to be completed as early as 2027.
JetZero, based at Long Beach Airport, will be paid over a four-year term through the Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit.
JetZero CEO Tom O’Leary said the blended wing design is the best first step on the path to zero-carbon emissions. “No other proposed aircraft comes close in terms of efficiency,” he said.
Speaking at a press conference Wednesday, Aug. 16, U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall noted the importance of the BWB project.
“We’re in a race for technological superiority,” he said. “There really is the potential to increase fuel efficiency with significant implications for our industrial base to help us maintain our technological lead over China.”
Founded in 2021, the core of the JetZero team includes engineers who pioneered the blended wing body concept, led by company founder and Chief Technology Officer Mark Page. As a McDonnell Douglas engineer in the 1990s, Page led a three-year NASA initiative to research and design future BWB projects.
NASA has since spent more than $1 billion on R&D of the blended-wing technology, much of it conducted by Page and his associates.
JetZero has 75 direct employees but estimates that could double to meet the needs of the project, company spokesman Jeff Miller said.
“Once we get through the certification process, the demand could be quite high,” he said.
A BWB aircraft’s wings and body are smoothly blended together with no clear dividing line. The new aircraft, which has yet to be named, will tout a longer flying range and the capability to land on shorter runways, project officials said.
The aircraft’s design also will decrease…
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