When government money seeds new technology, it’s a butterfly effect.
Major innovation in civil airliner airframe technology has been slowing considerably since the 1960s. It’s a highly competitive market, and the need for efficiency, through lowest possible seat mile costs, has meant incremental refinements in airframe design, while the power plant and avionics community have raced forward.
Long Beach, California-based JetZero, is developing a radical blended wing body design that promises to revolutionize the critical mid-market, 250 seat airliner segment. Airlines are interested, but critically, the company won a $235 million development contract from the U.S. Air Force in 2023, intended to deliver a working demonstrator by early 2027.
Ominously, $14 million of fiscal 2026 funding is on the chopping block, as the Trump Administration redirects resources toward other needs, including the proposed Golden Dome missile defense system. It’s unclear whether this drop in government funding will delay the first flight of the technology demonstrator, but there is a global backlog of airliner orders from both major companies, so the timing for JetZero could be ideal, if enough private funding can be generated to fill the gap.
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