Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) reports it has completed a month-long flight-test campaign in Germany with Singapore’s first indigenously designed, engineered and built electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Working with flight-test experts from the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the NTU team flew the larger 8-metre wingspan demonstrator to heights above 90 metres, while the 3-metre wingspan demonstrator reached speeds of more than 120 km/h. The flights generated critical data on the aircraft’s performance.
“The flights mark a historic first for Singapore, demonstrating the country’s ability to design, engineer, build, integrate and fly a complete electric aircraft,” said the university. “The milestone adds a new capability to Singapore’s established aerospace sector and lays the groundwork for further research into electric aviation.
The month-long mission from July to August 2026, was conducted at the DLR National Experimental Test Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Cochstedt, Germany. The prototypes demonstrated the eVTOL design’s ability to hover, fly using its fixed wings and transition between the two modes. Professor Louis Phee, NTU’s Vice President (Innovation and Entrepreneurship), who played a role in establishing the University’s eVTOL research centre, said: “When we started this programme, we set ourselves a moonshot goal: to gain the capability to design, engineer and build an airworthy electric aircraft with a novel design, useful for transportation of goods and people.
The NTU eVTOL research is supported by the University and the Industry Alignment Fund – Pre-Positioning initiative, under Singapore’s Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2025 plan, in collaboration with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). The eVTOL research project aims not only to develop individual aircraft technologies, which are protected intellectual property, but also to build systems-engineering know-how and nurture the talent required for Singapore to design, engineer, build, test and eventually support advanced electric aircraft, vertical flight and advanced air mobility, said the university.
For more information
https://www.ntu.edu.sg/news/detail/ntu-s-homegrown-electric-aircraft-takes-off-in-germany?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=research-engineering&utm_term=technology&utm_content=industrypartnership
(Image: NTU)