Collins Aerospace Advances the Airlander 10

Collins Aerospace has announced it has completed critical design review and started fabrication of a 500 kilowatt electric motor for the Airlander 10 aircraft under a partnership with Hybrid Air Vehicles and the University of Nottingham. Flight qualification testing of the motor is expected to occur in 2023, followed by hybrid-electric operation of Airlander 10 by 2025 and all-electric, zero-emission operation by 2030. To achieve these improvements, the aircraft’s four fuel-burning engines will be replaced by Collins’ 500 kilowatt electric motors—beginning with the two forward engines in 2025 and the two rear engines in 2030.