Guidance

Net Zero Emissions Air System: Market Exploration Document

Published 6 July 2021

1. Background

Defence presently operates a fleet of propeller driven, fossil fuelled light training aircraft that are used across multiple military and civil airfields for the purposes of pre-Service entry flying training, grading and assessment. This includes Royal Air Force University Air Squadrons (UAS) and Air Experience Flights (AEFs) and Flying grading and streaming (Army and Royal Navy), which are explained in a little more detail below:

• UAS and AEFs are co-located. Each UAS is responsible for the delivery of flying training to university undergraduates. The core syllabus covers skills that translate to that of a civilian Private Pilot’s Licence. Skills include basic handling and stalling with each 90 minute flight conducting multiple take-off and landing cycles. The advanced syllabus will see students conducting close formation and low-level navigation exercises. A typical 20 minute AEF flight demonstrates key aspects of aerial activity ranging from simple control exercises to fully aerobatic manoeuvres followed by a 10 minute period on the ground for crew or passenger swap; this requires the aircraft to be engines stopped. This 20min flying / 10 min shut down cycle repeats throughout a flying day.

• Flying grading and streaming (Army and Royal Navy) activities are focussed on the down selection of in-Service applicants wishing to adopt flying roles in either the Army Air Corps or Fleet Air Arm. Flight profiles are syllabus driven but again represent high intensity activities demanding multiple take-off and landing cycles, prolonged low-level flying (500 feet) and aerobatic manoeuvres.

Common across all three Services is the requirement to develop Qualified Flying Instructors in the key skills taught on their respective Units; unusual attitude and spin recovery training is an essential component. The ability to operate under Instrument Meteorological Conditions (i.e. flight in cloud or without reference to an external horizon) is crucial to both enabling training output and exploiting available flying opportunities. Consequently, both the aircraft and pilot must be capable of operating under Air Traffic Control in closely managed airspace; this includes the need to fly instrument approaches if required.

2. The future

The Air Capability Branch at Headquarters Air Command, is leading activity to deliver the next generation of aircraft to meet the requirement to replace the current fleet of aircraft. An entry into service date of c2027 is anticipated. Previous industry engagement assumed a more traditional power plant and fuel source with an option for later life upgrade to a sustainable alternative. Since then, the UK Government and the Royal Air Force have set targets of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and 2040 respectively, with Defence guided by the Defence Climate Change and Sustainability Report.

The decision has been taken to ensure that the next generation aircraft will produce zero carbon emissions at the point of use. This target must be achieved through more environmentally sympathetic aircraft using a sustainable fuel source such as electric or hydrogen; the goal is to achieve the first military registered and certified zero-carbon aircraft in the world. Defence is aware of multiple initiatives relating to the development of novel fuelled platforms and shares a common aspiration with the wider general aviation market. That said, several of the requirements for Defence platforms are quite specific and potentially unique to Defence, meaning there may potentially be gaps in provision from the civil aviation sector, which dominates the market. With an increasing number of certified platforms due to appear in the marketplace, the RAF is now working to develop a global understanding of technology readiness levels in this field. Ahead of any future procurement it is essential that a trajectory for this technology is investigated and understood, feeding operator and engineering expertise and ensuring the RAF remains at the forefront as an intelligent customer.

3. Essential requirements

The next generation aircraft will:

• Employ a powertrain that is zero carbon emissions at the point of activity.
• Be robust, dual control, side by side two seat configuration with fixed undercarriage that can operate from both grass and hard runways.
• Demonstrate an operating endurance in the region of 90 minutes and require no more than 20 minutes turnaround time between flights. This will include replenishment of the powertrain energy source.
• Be capable of operating between airspeeds of 50-130kts to a ceiling of 10000ft at maximum all up mass.
• Possess an air speed envelope that affords safe handling and low stalling speed but enables activities requiring higher speeds such as low-level navigation and entry into aerobatic manoeuvres.
• Be capable of flight in all classes of controlled airspace and Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC).

4. What we want

We are particularly interested in developing an in-depth global understanding of present and emerging capabilities, technologies, initiatives and novel approaches which can inform and shape any future market engagement and the setting of the user requirements for future systems. We are interested in full system technology and service solutions, but we acknowledge that there are many potential areas of sub-component and sub-system development that support the future requirement; for example, innovators may be working on battery and other energy source types of interest, but may not currently be working with airframe or power train integrators. We would like you to tell us:

• The potential timeline for the performance requirements to be met, even if some of them cannot be met within the c2027 timeframe stated above. In this instance, the potential for upgrading of components should be demonstrated.
• Comparative operating costs and time in terms of maintenance cycles, support and energy consumption (kWh) when compared to existing, traditionally powered aircraft of the same class.
• What are the infrastructure requirements for supporting the new capability, compared to that needed for conventional, fossil-fueled capabilities in service today.
• An understanding of the logistical support for such technologies.
• Any emerging industry standards that could support the development of military certification requirements.
• Types of qualifications and experience required by those responsible for the management and maintenance of such an air system.
• Any safety, technical or certification challenges, hazards or risks associated with the new technology and methods for managing them through to, and including disposal.

5. What we don’t want

We are not interested in literature reviews, consultancy, non-technical solutions or marginal improvements to existing capabilities such as adapting existing aircraft with new engines. Whilst any future capability solution will be supported by synthetic training devices, we are not looking for proposals as part of this exploration.
This is not a competition and therefore we are not asking for costed proposals at this stage. This market exploration is designed to provide information to the customer community to assist with requirements definition for the replacement systems. There is no intention to launch a formal DASA competition as a result of this Market Exploration.

6. How to submit a Market Exploration Submission to DASA

Responses to this Market Exploration must be submitted via the DASA submission service, for which you will need to register. We recommend you use a Google Chrome browser to access the DASA submission service.

You will be asked for a title and short summary of your innovation, along with questions related to your organisation, your idea and technology maturity. We are seeking to understand what and how much further development is required for a complete solution to meet requirements, or whether a combination of separate solutions is required. The information you provide will assist in developing a statement of requirements for potential future activities.

Submissions must be submitted by midday on 17 August 2021. Unfortunately we are unable to accept any submissions after this point.

Please only provide details of one product/capability per submission. If you have a number of potential solutions, then please submit multiple forms.

If you have any questions then please email accelerator@dstl.gov.uk with “Net Zero Emissions Air System” in the subject line.

7. How we use your information

Information you provide to us in a Market Exploration Submission, that is not already available to us from other sources, will be handled in-confidence. By submitting a Market Exploration Submission you are giving us permission to keep and use the information for our internal purposes, and to provide the information onwards, in-confidence, within UK Government. The Defence and Security Accelerator will not use or disclose the information for any other purpose, without first requesting permission to do so.