US military ready to use air taxi in case of military conflict with Russia or China

The military has long been trying to use the capabilities of electric transport for their own purposes. American

the air force has already conducted tests ontransporting the Hexa Lift Aircraft platform using a military cargo plane. The platform was successfully flown from Springfield-Beckley, Ohio Municipal Airport to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas. The demonstration is part of the Agility Prime program, through which the US Air Force hopes to accelerate the development of eVTOL technologies and provide military access to them.

According to Air Force Magazine, the Air Force launchedthe Agility Prime program in February 2020 and have since started collaborating with six companies as potential partners: Phenix Solutions, Joby Aviation, Elroy Air, Moog, Beta Technologies and Lift Aircraft. In December, the Joby S4 became the first eVTOL aircraft to receive Air Force approval to fly. The ultimate goal of the US Air Force is to turn eVTOL technology into a real development agenda by 2023.

The Hexa aircraft consists of an egg-shaped fuselageshape, placed on four floats around the perimeter, which allow it to land on the water. Above is a network of 18 electric motors arranged in a honeycomb-like hexagonal pattern.

To pack the Hexa for transportation, LiftAircraft split the engines and stacked the beams that connect them to the aircraft fuselage. After the Hexa was folded, it was loaded onto the C-130 into the cargo hold. The Hexa and ancillary hardware booting process took about 45 minutes, but that timeline could probably be shortened to 15 minutes. The C-130H can carry up to four Hexa platforms, while the newer C-130J models can potentially carry five or six at a time.

In May, the US Air Force will repeat this process as part of the Bushwhacker exercise, when the US military tries to use air taxi in rescue and attack missions in harsh environments.

Vertical take-off and landing platforms withquiet electric motors and simple support pads can be key for the Air Force, as they allow them to operate away from large airfields. According to representatives of the Air Force, air taxis will help in the event of a military conflict against Russia or China.

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