eVTOL, Agility Prime, and AFWERX with Col. Nathan Diller

Acquisition Talk

Colonel Nathan Diller joined me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss the Agility Prime line of effort that seeks an innovative acquisition approach to advancing electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) systems. Colonel Diller is the Director of AFWERX and before that was a prolific pilot with over 2,700 hours in 60 aircraft. Agility Prime doesn't look to establish requirements and line up a large amount of RDT&E funding to develop military-ready eVTOL systems. Instead, it uses the Air Force's assets to help accelerate commercialization of eVTOL. For example, the Air Force has test ranges and experienced personnel that can help commercial firms make it through an airworthiness process that drives down regulatory risk. Of course, there will be some funding to defray costs to the firms, but Agility Prime will help five aircraft prototypes get ready to fly on a scant budget. Moreover, the process helps the Air Force get smart on use cases and market research to help build the requirements for a program of record down the line. The "Prime" methodology is ripe for several other areas of dual-use technologies. Colonel Diller identified some other potential Prime concepts: - Space Prime for two areas: (1) space mobility, transport, and logistics; and (2) data access - Energy Prime for batteries and perhaps other energy storage devices - Vector Prime for supersonic transportation - Autonomy Prime for... autonomous systems - Microelectronics Prime to help solve security and availability - Digital Game Prime to support digital engineering and even designing military campaigns This podcast was produced by Eric Lofgren. Soundtrack by urmymuse: "reflections of u". You can follow us on Twitter @AcqTalk and find more information at AcquisitionTalk.com.