Future flight challenge phase 3

Competition aims to fund projects that will position the UK as a leader in the third revolution of aviation

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £65 million in future flight innovation projects.

The aim of this competition is to fund projects that will deliver the 2024 vision of the Future Flight Challenge and position the UK as a leader in the third revolution of aviation.

The Future Flight Challenge is based around 3 classes of aircraft:

• Drones or unmanned aircraft systems (UAS)
• Advanced Air Mobility (AAM)
• Sub-regional zero-carbon aircraft

The competition is split into two strands, with both closing to applications at 11am on 3 November 2021.

Strand 1

In Strand 1, projects must focus on the demonstration aspects of novel classes of electric or autonomous air vehicles and systems.

Your project must focus on demonstrating the operation of aircraft in a representative environment whilst meeting a viable and challenging use case. Use cases should be real-world applications which drive integration of the different aviation system elements for each of the three Future Flight vehicle classes.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• demonstrations of multiple drones, operating as a beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) service in a defined geographic area.
• a multi-modal demonstration of different aircraft types operating in parallel providing an end-to-end solution
• AAM vehicle operation in a representative environment
• scheduled sub-regional electric flights over a representative route

Find more information on Future flight challenge phase 3: strand 1 and how to apply.

Strand 2

In Strand 2, proposals must focus on developing the enabling technologies that support the operation of drones, advanced air mobility (AAM) or sub-regional electric aircraft in a representative environment and whilst meeting a viable and challenging use case.

You must clearly demonstrate how the enabling technologies you are developing combine to support an overall aviation “system of systems” that supports the different classes of Future Flight aircraft.

Your project must focus on one or more of the following:

• a real-world use case application which drives integration of the different aviation system elements for each of the three Future Flight vehicle classes
• AAM: Inter-town transport or Intracity Transport
• drone or AAM cargo delivery
• drone or AAM medical delivery
• hub and spoke drone delivery service
• AAM Infrastructure or Vertiport
• automated ground handling and charging systems
• operation of sub-regional electric aircraft
• air traffic management (ATM) and unmanned traffic management (UTM) systems
• digital and communications systems

Find more information on Future flight challenge phase 3: strand 2 and how to apply.

First published 30 September 2021