Manta Aircraft is expanding work on its Ann family of hybrid-electric aircraft through a new partnership with IT engineering group Altair. The European start-up will participate in Altair’s Aerospace Accelerator Program to finalize the designs for the scalable vertical and short takeoff and landing aircraft for which it aims to achieve initial certification in 2027.
The Ann2 and Ann Plus models are expected to have a range of at least 300 kilometers (163 nm) when operating in vertical takeoff and landing mode. Operating from a short field of less than 1,000 feet, the range would increase to 800 kilometers (435 nm).
Manta and Altair signed their collaboration agreement during the DriftX event in Abu Dhabi. Altair is providing simulation and data analytics software, as well as training the Manta team in computational intelligence that can be applied in areas such as digital engineering and artificial intelligence. It also specializes in applying digital twin technology to aviation tasks.
According to Manta, it aims to build a new full-scale technology demonstrator for the two-seat Ann2 within the next 12 months. It will also continue work on the six-seat Ann Plus and a planned uncrewed version of the aircraft. In 2020, the company, which includes executives with extensive experience from the automotive sector, flew a sub-scale model of the Ann2.
“We at Manta are very grateful to Altair for their confidence in our project and their decision to support us with the tools and very specific expertise Altair has acquired over the last few years,” said Manta Aircraft CEO Lucas Marchesini. “We are confident that we can solve outstanding technical challenges in the various areas of the Manta design by utilizing the remarkable variety of tools Altair has made available to us.”
On May 1, Michigan-based Altair expanded its footprint in the aerospace sector with the acquisition of a company called Research in Flight. It will now make its computational flow dynamics software available to clients across multiple industries.