Vertical Aerospace, a company that is working on zero-emissions aviation, will work with Leonardo for the design, testing, manufacture and supply of the carbon composite fuselage for Vertical’s VX4 electric aircraft. The VX4’s test flight programme is expected to commence later in 2022.
The two companies will work together on optimising lightweight composite structures, modular design, systems installation, and structural testing for the co-development of the aircraft’s fuselage. The cooperation is in place for at least six certification aircraft, up to the successful certification of the VX4.
The agreement has also stated the potential to scale fuselage production to 2,000 aircraft a year to meet Vertical’s existing market-leading order book demand. Vertical has what it believes is the largest conditional pre-order book (by value) in the eVTOL industry, of up to 1,350 aircraft worth $5.4 billion from American Airlines, Avolon, Bristow and Iberojet, including pre-order options from Virgin Atlantic and Marubeni, and through Avolon’s placements, airlines JAL and Gol.
Leonardo has long-established expertise in composite aerostructures development and manufacturing on civil and defense programs. The aerospace firm also has a close relationship with Vertical’s strategic composite materials supplier, Solvay. Vertical and Solvay are jointly developing advanced materials and manufacturing technologies that will enable high volume manufacture of the VX4.
“Vertical is pioneering electric aviation and is on a mission to transform the way people travel,” said Michael Cervenka, President of Vertical. “I have been hugely impressed by Leonardo’s highly innovative and industry leading technical and manufacturing capabilities and our partnership has got off to a flying start. We have a market-leading pre-order book for our VX4, and this partnership will ensure that we can scale the programme to meet demand.”
“Advanced air mobility is part of Leonardo’s mandate to innovate using our cutting edge, human-centred technology and industrialisation expertise,” said Lucio Valerio Cioffi, Leonardo’s General Manager. “We’re proud to collaborate with Vertical as part of our strategic vision in this brand new sector.”
“Leonardo strives to bring new technologies, materials and processes into our established practices in our production sites,” said Giancarlo Schisano, Managing Director of Leonardo’s Aerostructures Division. “This will be the case at our Grottaglie plant in Southern Italy, where we will focus our VX4 activities; the plant is one of the most advanced facilities in Europe to produce composite aerostructures.”
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