Vertical Aerospace and Near Earth Autonomy have signed a memorandum of understanding to bring advanced autonomous flight capability to the Valo aircraft for uncrewed defence and commercial operations. Near Earth’s autonomous flight systems are designed to integrate natively with Valo’s Honeywell Aerospace Anthem avionics, creating a lower-risk path to autonomous capability. Founded in 2012, Near Earth Autonomy has developed autonomous flight systems for the US military and Honeywell Aerospace, including optionally piloted Black Hawk helicopters and autonomous demonstrations on the Leonardo AW139. The partnership aims to pursue near-term defence opportunities while building a roadmap for increasingly automated commercial passenger services. Valo is an all-electric tiltrotor aircraft, with a hybrid-electric variant under development offering up to 1,000 miles of range and payloads of up to 1,100 kg. The hybrid-electric version’s low acoustic and thermal signatures are tailored for defence and special missions, with the platform spanning logistics, resupply, and distributed operations. Stuart Simpson, Chief Executive of Vertical Aerospace, said the partnership marked a significant step into the defence market and that Valo was designed from the outset as a multi-market platform. Dr Sanjiv Singh, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Near Earth Autonomy, said Valo offered an exceptional base for autonomy, enabling uncrewed flight across commercial and defence applications. Source: Vertical