The US Air Force has awarded US$3.5m to accelerate development of the blended-wing-body (BWB) regional freighter being developed by Natilus toward full-scale flight testing and an operationally relevant demonstration.
Natilus is developing its Kona freighter toward Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 23 certification and full-scale flight testing. Venture and strategic capital and customer commitments fund the commercial development program, and the government funding will support the operational demonstration.
Kona is designed to carry a payload of 8,400lb (3.8 tonnes) over a range of 800 nautical miles (1,480km). It has short-field capability and is compatible with existing cargo infrastructure.For the Joint Force, the aircraft would sit between light utility aircraft such as the C-208 and tactical airlifters such as the C-130, in what the company described as a new class of sub-tactical lift. It is sized for regional distribution and contested logistics missions.
Natilus claims the BWB configuration consumes about 30% less fuel than comparable conventional aircraft. That reduces both the aircraft’s fuel demand and the burden on the logistics network moving fuel forward – a need the company said was particularly relevant in the Indo-Pacific, where long distances, distributed operating locations and constrained fuel logistics place a premium on range and efficiency.
Jim Hartle, associate deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for operational energy, safety and occupational health, said, “The combination of existing commercial investment and new government funding gives us an opportunity to accelerate technologies that can increase capability while reducing operational energy demand.”
“In a fuel-constrained environment like the Pacific, efficiency translates directly into operational flexibility,” Hartle said. “KONA provides an opportunity to evaluate how a commercially developed aircraft can contribute to distributed logistics while generating the data needed to inform future requirements.”
Natilus said Kona’s primary role is as a freighter, although its modular architecture and optionally piloted capability could provide a path to other mission configurations over time, including communications relay, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and payload delivery. The initial focus is demonstrating Kona as a distribution platform for intra-theater lift and contested logistics.
Aleksey Matyushev, CEO of Natilus, said, “With Kona, the Department of War is evaluating a new airlift capability that can generate real-world cost, reliability, payload and utilization data as the broader military requirement matures.”
“While we build Kona to meet the global commercial market need for a more efficient regional freighter, this investment and accelerated operational timeline with the Air Force will demonstrate Kona’s payload, range, efficiency and flexibility benefits for the Joint Force,” Matyushev said.
Founded in 2016, Natilus is developing a family of BWB aircraft for cargo and passenger transport. The company says it holds more than 570 aircraft pre-orders, valued at US$24bn.
