The U.S. Air Force has commissioned JetZero to build and fly a full-scale technology demonstrator for a blended-wing body (BWB) aircraft intended for military and commercial airline applications. The California start-up, which was today awarded a $235 million contract from the Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, is developing the aircraft in partnership with Northrop Grumman and its Scaled Composites subsidiary.
Under the terms of the four-year contract, JetZero is expected to have a technology demonstrator ready to fly in the first quarter of 2027. The Pentagon is eyeing the BWB concept as a contender for its requirements for a new military airlifter and an air-to-air refueling platform. It is already considering other options for that usage, such as the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Rocket Cargo program, DARPA’s LibertyLifter, and Boeing’s NASA-funded Transonic Truss-braced Wing demonstrator.
According to JetZero, when deployed as a fuel tanker, its BWB aircraft would carry as much fuel as the current KC-46 workhorse over twice the distance. Alternatively, it could take on twice as much fuel load for the KC-46’s current operating radius.
JetZero Promises Airlines a 50 Percent Cut in Fuel Burn and Emissions
JetZero also has its sights set on the air transport industry’s need to decarbonize to meet legally binding net-zero targets. It intends to offer the design as a 200-plus-passenger replacement for Boeing’s 757 and 767 transports, and also the Airbus A330.
Rather than focusing, for now, on new, greener propulsion systems, the company intends to use Pratt & Whitney’s Geared Turbofan (GTF) engines, with a view to achieving a 50 percent reduction in fuel burn and carbon emissions through a quantum leap in aerodynamics. The company has said that later versions of the BWB design could be integrated with new hydrogen propulsion technology.
Pratt & Whitney has agreed to provide GTF engines for the technology demonstrator and its Gatorworks team is helping JetZero to design and integrate the powertrain. JetZero says it is receiving support from several tier one aerospace companies and expects to announce further systems selections in the coming months.
According to JetZero CEO Tom O’Leary, the company has already spoken with “the majority of major global airlines and they have been universally enthusiastic because they are not paying lip service to sustainability.” He maintained that the potential to deliver a 50 percent decrease in consumption of jet-A fuel means JetZero’s BWB can offer a more direct route to decarbonization than waiting for new propulsion technology, making the aircraft “the best first step on the path to zero carbon emissions.” The company also contends that the two engines mounted above the fuselage and wings will make the aircraft quieter than current airliners.
Though not incorporated until 2022, JetZero traces its origins to McDonnell Douglas’s work on BWB concepts during the 1990s, led by JetZero founder and chief technology officer Mark Page. His company, Dzyne Technologies, continued to advance BWB technology through projects backed by NASA to the tune of more than $1 billion, and JetZero owns the intellectual property that he says will deliver an oven-ready solution to air transport’s urgent need for a quantum leap in emissions reduction.
According to the company, Boeing, Airbus, and Embraer, all declined offers to collaborate in a BWB program, leading JetZero to forge an alliance with Scaled Composites. After giving a first glimpse of the BWB concept earlier this year, JetZero used June’s Paris Air Show to step up engagement with prospective airline customers.
With a target of raising “several hundred million” more dollars, JetZero has embarked on a Series A funding round to support the development and testing of the technology demonstrator and subsequent prototype. It already has attracted an undisclosed investment from Tony Fadell’s Build Collective venture capital group.
According to the Long Beach Airport-based company, much of the conceptual design work for the BWB technology demonstrator is complete and JetZero’s small engineering team has been flight testing a series of scale models, as well as conducting simulator and test bench exercises. The company is now ground-testing a 12.5 percent scale model ahead of an anticipated first flight test later this year.
