JetZero and Siemens partner up to bring blended-wing aircraft to the skies by 2030
Aviation start-up JetZero is to leverage the Siemens Xcelerator open digital business platform to accelerate the development of its new blended-wing aircraft.
Formed by a former Airbus CEO, Los Angeles-based JetZero plans to improve fuel efficiency by 50% and cut emissions and noise with its fuel-efficient, blended-wing-body design. Under the agreement with Siemens, Xcelerator will help design, manufacture and operate the new aircraft.
Siemens’ automation hardware, software and services will be integrated at JetZero’s ‘Factory of the Future’, a new greenfield site in the US. These tools will help the manufacturer achieve its ambition of electrifying, automating and digitalising both the aircraft and its production.
The announcement was made at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, US, where Peter Koerte, chief technology officer and chief strategy officer at Siemens, described how the JetZero aircraft and its associated manufacturing operations will be simulated virtually using Siemens’ digital twin technology. He said this would enable the company to derisk the manufacturing process, validate the approach and scale processes long before any ground is broken or jets take to the skies.
Tom O’Leary, JetZero CEO, said: “Siemens’ digital twin and industrial metaverse technologies will be instrumental in helping us design, build and operate the world’s first fully digital aircraft, delivering a better experience for passengers and airlines while also reducing fuel consumption by 50%.”
In August 2024, JetZero announced it was to receive $8m in funding from the Federal Aviation Administration to continue the development of its aircraft.
In November 2024, JetZero announced it had finalised partnership agreements with tier one suppliers, including BAE and Thales, for the key components of the flight control system on its full-scale blended-wing-body demonstrator.
Test flights of the demonstrator are scheduled to begin in 2027, with JetZero looking to enter commercial service by 2030.