The European Union’s Clean Aviation HECATE program has reached a new milestone after completing its preliminary design review for the electric aircraft, Collins Aerospace announced on Monday.
Collins is one of the aerospace industry leaders working on HECATE, short for Hybrid Electric Regional Aircraft Distribution Technologies. The RTX business leads the project’s steering committee, while Safran is the program’s technical coordinator. Airbus Defence and Space, Leonardo and several universities also contribute to the effort.
For its part, Collins has completed the preliminary design review for the technology’s power conversion and secondary distribution systems. According to the company, the program is on track to reach Technology Readiness Level 4 and complete a critical design review by the end of 2024.
“Hybrid-electric aircraft are a central pillar of the aviation industry’s drive to reduce carbon emissions, yet in order for these aircraft to fly, they will require new distribution technologies that can support significantly higher voltages,” said Mauro Atalla, Engineering & Technology senior vice president at Collins.
“Working together with our HECATE consortium partners, we’re breaking new ground in the maturation of these critical, enabling technologies and progressing on schedule.”
The consortium aims to conduct ground tests of the hybrid-electric architecture at TRL 5 in 2025.
HECATE is funded by U.K. Research and Innovation under the Horizon Europe sustainable technology development program.