AMSL Aero, the Australian developer of the hydrogen-electric eVTOL Vertiia, has secured $3 million in grant funding from the Federal Government to develop and demonstrate liquid hydrogen-powered aircraft for regional and remote Australia.

The two-year project, called Liquid Hydrogen Powered Aircraft for Regional and Remote Australia, is worth AUD 7.56 million in total. It was awarded by the Australian Government Department of Industry Cooperative Research Centres Projects Program.

AMSL Aero will collaborate with liquid hydrogen company Fabrum, Monash University and Deakin University to address the technical, regulatory and safety challenges of hydrogen-powered eVTOL aircraft in real-world environments.

The project will focus on designing safe liquid hydrogen refuelling systems, testing advanced fuel measurement and power distribution during various stages of flight of the Vertiia, securing evidence for the development of national regulatory pathways and demonstrating refuelling procedures integrated with aircraft systems.

AMSL Aero CEO Dr Adriano Di Pietro says: “This funding points to the Australian Government's support for our mission to revolutionise air mobility for regional and remote Australia. The project objectives reflect our cooperative leadership across the sector and community to decarbonise aviation.”

The Vertiia is a leader in the new generation of aircraft that take off and land like a helicopter but fly fast and smoothly like a fixed-wing aeroplane. AMSL Aero is in an elite group of top-tier global companies to fly an eVTOL in untethered horizontal flight successfully.