Shortly after Beta Technologies’ Alia electric airplane prototype completed its three-month deployment at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida last month, it spent more than a week in Savannah, Georgia, where the U.S. Air National Guard used it for a series of military training exercises, the Vermont-based aircraft developer announced February 12.
During the weeklong military mission assessment sequence, Beta and the Air National Guard—a military reserve for the U.S. Air Force—jointly conducted an agile combat employment (ACE) and domestic response exercise at the Air Dominance Center, also known as the Savannah Combat Readiness Training Center.
The Air Force defines ACE as an “operational scheme of maneuver executed within threat timelines to increase survivability while generating combat power.” This strategy aims to shift operations from centralized physical infrastructure, such as large overseas military bases, to a network of smaller, dispersed locations “that can complicate adversary planning and provide more options for joint force commanders.”
More than 350 airmen from six U.S. states participated in various mission exercises using the Alia aircraft, including the swift relocation of personnel between bases and simulated attack and casualty evacuation scenarios. The Alia also transported cargo between its starting base in Savannah and three other locations nearby, among them a regional airport and a USAF airfield in South Carolina.
“It was incredibly validating to see firsthand how Alia was able to accomplish meaningful missions in support of a large-scale training exercise, with very minimal assets,” said Beta test pilot and former Air Force fighter squadron commander Chris Caputo. “We were able to accept missions from an alert status and be airborne within minutes, fly to a contingency location, completely shut down the aircraft, unload and/or load cargo, and be airborne again within 10 minutes.”
“Alia’s flexibility, low cost, and exceptionally high utilization rate, not to mention its interoperability with our own and existing infrastructure, make it an ideal asset to help sustain the combat capabilities of the USAF,” Caputo added.
Beta's work with the Air National Guard was separate from the work the company is conducting with the U.S. Air Force's Afwerx Agility Prime program, which has been collaborating with Beta since 2020 to develop military use cases for small electric aircraft such as the Alia.
The all-electric Alia prototype that Beta has been utilizing for these military exercises takes off and lands like a conventional airplane, or eCTOL, although the company is also developing a similar eVTOL model. Configured as an air taxi, either model can seat five passengers plus one pilot. The cargo-carrying variant can carry up to 1,400 pounds (635 kilograms) of payload. Beta expects the eVTOL aircraft to have a range of about 250 miles, while the eCTOL prototype has already flown up to 386 miles on a single charge. The eCTOL model, called CX300, is expected to receive FAA type certification in 2025, with the Alia-250 eVTOL model to follow in 2026.
Beta’s aircraft arrived in Savannah on January 22 and conducted at least 16 sorties in the area before departing for Louisiana on February 3. On its way to Houma-Terrebonne Airport (KHUM) in Louisiana, where Beta conducted a flight demonstration with its partner Bristow on February 7, it made pit stops at three small airports: Jimmy Carter Regional Airport (KACJ) in Georgia; Dannelly Field (KMGM) near Montgomery, Alabama; and Mobile Regional Airport (KMOB) in Mobile, Alabama.
Following the flight demonstration at KHUM, the aircraft began its multi-leg trip back to Beta headquarters in South Burlington, Vermont, on February 7. A company spokesperson told AIN that it expects the aircraft to arrive back in Vermont by the end of the month. From Houma, it flew to Allen Parish Airport near Oakdale, Louisiana; then on February 8, it flew to Jackson, Mississippi, after making a pit stop at Hardy-Anders Field near the Louisiana-Mississippi border.
It ended the week with a flight to Golden Triangle Regional Airport in eastern Mississippi, where Beta installed one of its aircraft chargers at the Avflight FBO. Avflight is the second FBO operator to partner with Beta, which is also installing its chargers at Atlantic Aviation FBO locations across the U.S. in partnership with eVTOL developer Archer Aviation.
