NASA announces plans to ask industry to develop advanced fuel-efficient experimental aircraft and avionics

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Space agency experts are reaching out to industry to find companies able to design and build an experimental aircraft and avionics suite able to make dramatic reductions in fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.

Officials of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., announced plans Friday to issue an Announcement for Partnership Proposals (AFPP) for the upcoming Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project.

This initiative will seek to design, build, test, and fly an advanced airframe configuration and related technologies to reduce aircraft fuel burn and CO2 emissions dramatically as part of the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project.

NASA say they anticipate entering into one agreement with private industry, with the potential for more, to develop an advanced airframe and avionics to exploit the potential for commercial use in the 2030s.

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This fuel-efficient experimental aircraft project has three goals: develop and flight-test an aircraft and avionics to reduce aircraft fuel burn and CO2 emissions; obtain ground and flight data to validate the aircraft and flight technologies; and help design next-generation single-aisle passenger aircraft that meet U.S. environmental goals.

This notice is not yet a formal offer; an AFPP will come later. Email questions or concerns to NASA's Bradley Flick, the center ombudsman for this acquisition, at [email protected].

An expected time for release of a formal solicitation was not released. More information is online at https://sam.gov/opp/9c2537a4081441b1a98539c53c377977/view.