FAA funds JetZero study of top-mounted engine airflow. $5.3 million deal funds sensors for JetZero's blended-wing-body demonstrator October 28, 2026 The FAA has awarded JetZero $5.3 million to study airflow through its top-mounted engines in flight, the company announced on Wednesday. Long Beach, California-based JetZero will collect the data on Jet1, the full-scale demonstrator for its blended-wing-body Z4 airliner. Funding comes from Phase IV of the agency's Continuous Lower Energy, Emissions, and Noise (CLEEN) program. According to JetZero, the money will pay for sensors on Jet1's engines and nacelles. Those sensors will measure airflow at each engine's inlet and just behind its fan. JetZero will collect the data during takeoff, climb, cruise, and ground operations in crosswinds. Gathering the data on a full-scale airplane in flight is cheaper and more realistic than relying on engine test rigs or ground simulations, the company said. Jet1 will fly on a pair of Pratt & Whitney PW2040 turbofans, the same model that powers some Boeing 757s. JetZero has not yet named an engine supplier for the production Z4. The FAA launched CLEEN Phase IV in September, signing two-year, cost-shared research agreements with JetZero, Boeing, GE Aerospace, Heart Aerospace, and Honeywell Aerospace. It hasn't disclosed agreement values, though its January draft solicitation anticipated up to $25 million for all of Phase IV. That is a fraction of the $100 million or more the FAA put into each of the program's three earlier five-year phases. Jet1 takes shape. Northrop Grumman subsidiary Scaled Composites is assembling Jet1 at the Mojave Air & Space Port (KMHV) in California. JetZero said in August that the demonstrator was 40% complete as of June, with first flight planned for the fourth quarter of 2027. Mounting the engines above the airframe will cut noise for communities near airports, JetZero said. In a blended-wing-body design like the Z4, the wings and fuselage merge into a single shape that produces lift across its entire span. The 250-seat Z4 would fly up to 5,000 nm, filling a niche between single-aisle and widebody jets that is known as the middle of the market. JetZero is pitching it as an alternative to Airbus and Boeing jets and says it will be up to 50% more fuel-efficient than comparable tube-and-wing airliners with the same engine technology. It aims to put the Z4 into service in the early 2030s. JetZero broke ground on its Z4 factory in June at Piedmont Triad International Airport (KGSO) in Greensboro, North Carolina. It plans to move its headquarters to a renovated building on the campus in early 2027. In July, the company also said it would open an engineering office at Wichita State University's National Institute for Aviation Research in Kansas to work on advanced materials, digital engineering, and certification testing. After raising more than $1 billion by January, JetZero closed a loan of up to $100 million in August to help pay for Jet1 and the Greensboro buildout. It also signed a nonbinding letter of interest in July with the Export-Import Bank of the United States to explore up to $3 billion in financing for the campus. United Airlines' conditional agreement to buy up to 100 Z4s, with options for 100 more, depends partly on Jet1 flying in 2027. Delta Air Lines, which partnered with JetZero in 2025, is advising on operations and cabin design through its Sustainable Skies Lab. At the Farnborough International Airshow in July, Bahrain's flag carrier Gulf Air signed a letter of intent for an undisclosed number of Z4s. Japan Airlines also agreed to help shape the airplane's specifications, ground handling, and maintenance plans.

US Sustainable aviation programs get $25m funding boost. By Ben Sampson 15th October 2026 3 Mins Read A rendering of the Heart Aerospace ES-36 in JSX livery, the hybrid-electric regional aircraft covered by JSX's new purchase agreement (Image: Heart Aerospace/JSX) The US Federal Aviation Administration has awarded US$25m to five aerospace companies under its Continuous Lower Energy, Emissions, and Noise research program to develop and test technologies that reduce aircraft emissions and increase fuel efficiency. The two-year Continuous Lower Energy, Emissions, and Noise (CLEEN) projects are the latest in a series of research programs into sustainable aviation technologies that began in 2010. Previous CLEEN rounds were larger, between US$100m and US$125m, and covered five-year work periods. CLEEN contracts have been given to aircraft manufacturer Boeing, propulsion and systems suppliers GE Aerospace and Honeywell, as well as hybrid-electric aircraft developers JetZero and Heart Aerospace. The funding is matched by the participating companies and will be used to develop technologies that improve fuel efficiency and reduce noise, nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate matter emissions. CLEEN funding to fund Heart's HYPER project. Heart Aerospace is to use its funding for a US$5.8m R&D project called Hybrid Propulsion Environmental Readiness (HYPER). The project will develop and test the turbogenerator for the hybrid-electric propulsion system Heart will use to power its ES-36 regional aircraft. Heart, which was founded in Sweden but largely moved its operations to the US in 2025, is targeting entry into service in 2031 with Part 25 certification. The ES-36 is a series hybrid that will use two megawatt-class turbogenerators, powered by commercially available jet turbines, to produce electricity in flight. According to Heart, the approach will extend the aircraft's range from a 125-mile (200km) battery-only range to 745 miles (1,200km). HYPER will begin with ground testing to evaluate how the turbogenerator, batteries and electric motors work together in different operating modes, before progressing to demonstration flights aboard the pre-production ES-36, which is scheduled to make its first flight in 2028. The project will generate data on energy use, fuel burn, emissions and noise to support ES-36 certification and inform the FAA's approach to evaluating and certifying hybrid-electric aircraft more broadly. The CLEEN award follows a US$4.1m grant Heart won in September 2024 from the US government to develop the avionics and software that will control its hybrid-electric propulsion system. Ben Stabler, chief technology officer of Heart Aerospace, said, "The FAA's continued partnership with Heart Aerospace will accelerate development of this key element of the ES-36's disruptive hybrid-electric powertrain. "Together, we are advancing technologies that will help bring to market a new generation of commercial aircraft that use less fuel, produce fewer emissions and make less noise, benefiting passengers, operators and the communities they serve." According to Heart, it has so far secured one order, for up to 100 ES-36s, from US-based charter operator JSX.