Archer Aviation Midnight electric vertical and takeoff aircraft flying over Los Angeles, Calif. Archer is particpating in a federal program to accelerate development of eVTOLs and drones.

Archer Aviation

It’s a move by the federal government to accelerate the airborne future, with the aim of bringing a range of small aircraft from air taxis to cargo carrying drones to U.S. skies as soon as this summer.

The initiative is called the Advanced Air Mobility and Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing Integration Pilot Program, or eIPP, part of Pres. Donald Trump’s American drone dominance executive order.

This month several aviation companies were invited to participate in eight projects across the country designed to both test the technologies and demonstrate their capabilities.

One of those companies is Manassas, Virginia-based Electra that’s developed a hybrid-electric plane that can takeoff and land in just 150 feet of runway, which is why the company calls it Ultra Short.

Its top executive is also ultra short in expressing just how eIPP will speed the timeline for bringing not only his company’s aircraft to the skies but those that come under the broad umbrella of Advanced Air Mobility that includes vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.

“We have a choice as a nation. We can transform the way we travel over the next five years, 10 years or 15 years,” said Marc Allen, Electra president and CEO, in an interview. “I think eIPP is going to let us bring the transformation to the next five years.”

Executives at three of the other companies participating in eIPP projects expressed similar shrinking of the timeline through the program.

Both Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation have developed electric vertical takeoff and landing planes, or eVTOLs that they primarily see serving as short-hop air taxis, much the same as Electra’s hybrid aircraft.

Designed to carry cargo, rather than people, is the autonomous hybrid-electric vertical takeoff and landing drone called the Chaparral from San Francisco-area company Elroy Air.

Like Electra, those companies were also invited to participate in eIPP projects, in locations that span 26 states and include such activities as:

• Urban air taxi services
• Regional passenger transportation
• Cargo and logistics networks
• Emergency medical response operations
• Autonomous flight technologies
• Offshore and energy-sector transportation

The increased public exposure to these new aircraft will likely help the public not only better understand what they’re all about, but become more comfortable with them, much the same as when Waymo self-driving taxis first went into service, noted Archer co-founder and CEO Adam Goldstein.

“This is our Waymo moment as an industry,” said Goldstein in an interview. “We're introducing a new category of aircraft. People can start to see it every day. What we're trying to do is just get people used to seeing this stuff. So it's just kind of almost like accepted as a new part of reality.”

Indeed, reality is likely to set in for the public attending the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles where Archer won the right to operate an air taxi service using its four-passenger Midnight eVTOL.

The opportunity to conduct progressively more complex and demanding tasks through eIPP actually contributes to making sure Midnight is ready for the Olympics, noted Goldstein, “ultimately, getting ready for the big show.”

Ahead of that Archer is running test flights with people aboard and working on defense projects.

As part of eIPP, Archer will participate in projects in air taxi development projects in New England, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and Texas and in Florida, a combination of projects moving people and cargo along with medical responses.

Earlier this month Joby completed a series of demonstration flights over the San Francisco, California area, but has been active in the Middle East and Asia in Japan, Dubai and South Korea, according to Greg Bowles, Joby chief policy officer.

But the company’s most “exciting” market is the U.S., said Bowles, where as part of eIPP, Joby will participate in projects in Florida, Texas, Utah and North Carolina and the Port of New York.

Indeed, Joby had already been in discussions with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the U.S. Department of Transportation about bringing air taxi service for Manhattan and area airports.

“What you're going to see here is through this eIPP, we're able to accelerate doing that,” Bowles said in an interview. “We first flew in the skies of New York City in November of 2023 and the reaction was remarkable. Even the the anti-noise aviation groups raised their hands and said, this is the solution, like, this is what we'd like to see. So through the eIPP and New York City winning, we're going to be able to accelerate and make sure that New York City maintains the first market in this next era of aviation.”

Electra will join Archer, Joby and aviation company BETA Technologies in the Florida and New York City area projects, as well as participating in the Pennsylvania project with BETA.

But its ultra short plane does require a slightly different set of regulations than vertical takeoff and landing. Enacting those is something its CEO asserts eIPP will help accelerate.

“Fly in like a helicopter, land on the ramps. To do all of that requires new policy, requires new implement flight rules for ultra short aircraft, reveals new regulatory frameworks for the airports,” explained Allen. “eIPP lets us do the demos that then will get paired up with the policy making muscle of DOT and FAA to put the frameworks in place so we can now go do this everywhere.”

Unlike the other companies in the program, Elroy Air’s focus in entirely on moving cargo in pods attached to the underbelly of its autonomous hybrid-electric VTOL, Chaparral.

Along with BETA, Elroy Air, the eIPP project is centered in Louisiana to test cargo and personnel transportation over the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi and between energy industry locations in those states.

“If you go all the way back to the original launch of the eIPP, they were looking for cargo and logistics commercial missions,” said Elroy Air CEO Andrew Clare, in an interview. “They were looking for autonomous and uncrewed aircraft and they were also looking for folks who are doing work with defense logistics. So one of the amazing things about the Elroy Chaparral is it checks both boxes.”

Chaparral is designed to carry cargo loads of 300-500 pounds on trips of up to 300 miles. The aircraft has made several test flights from points A to B covering about 40 kilometers, or about 25 miles, but will be ready to participate in the eIPP project later this year according to Clare.

Elroy plans to leverage its partnership with Bristow Group, one of the world’s largest helicopter service operators and the Houma, Louisiana airport which applied for participation in the eIPP, said Clare, who noted Bristow has considerable experience servicing the energy industry.

For the companies participating in eIPP, the main theme is not only will the program provide tailwinds for speeding the development of Advanced Air Mobility but as Electra’s Marc Allen put it, “eIPP makes novel operations real.”