U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Allvin speaks with personnel during their inspection of GBU-38 bombs during his visit to Beale AFB, Calif. on May 28 (U.S. Air Force Photo)
In the upcoming fiscal 2026 budget request, the U.S. Air Force is to request a winding down of the Agility Prime electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) project by the service’s AFWERX innovation arm, as the service looks to save funds and winnow out efforts that show little promise of fielding.
During the Biden administration, there had also been talk among analysts of the Air Force’s lack of commitment to Agility Prime.
“One of the reasons why we looked to de-scope [Agility Prime] is with the limited capacity of budget we’re looking to find ones who did have a transition partner,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Allvin testified in response to a question from Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), a former Air Force acquisition officer, at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday. “It’s really about making sure we look at the force design and see how these capabilities can find their way into delivering capability to the warfighter. As we look at that, we are transforming our organizational structure to move toward a more Integrated Capability Command that can take those innovative ideas but be able to see more clearly their value proposition.”
Houlahan, who worked on electronics programs at Hanscom AFB, Mass., then told Allvin that many once far-fetched ideas, such as phone text messaging, eventually bear fruit.
“The art of the possible is always competing with the art of the known with respect to the readiness and modernization challenges we know of,” Allvin replied. “That’s a constant tension that we have, but I take your point that we don’t want to pass opportunities up just by focusing on the known risks.”
The Air Force began Agility Prime in 2020. Efforts there have seen some traction, including the organization’s partnership with commercial electric VTOL companies to help bring to market a hybrid-electric vertical takeoff and landing demonstrator (HEX/VTOL) aircraft with a tilt-wing configuration for commercial and military use.
Last year, Lockheed Martin‘s Sikorsky said that it was developing HEX/VTOL to be a high speed, low operating cost aircraft with a 500 nautical range.
A version of this story originally appeared in affiliate publication Defense Daily.