Noemi Aerospace is seeking partners to help “participate in defining and launching” a firefighting variant of its the electric passenger aircraft it is developing. The Norwegian start-up, which previously operated under the name Elfly, has concluded that the planned water-bomber would have a hybrid-electric or turbine-only powertrain in order to deliver sufficient payload and performance needed for firefighting.
According to Noemi CEO Eric Lithun, the company has been working on a multi-mission strategy for several years— including addressing potential firefighting, skydiving and military markets. In recent months, he told AIN it has “done more of the math” to confirm requirements for new variants of Noemi. With Europe notably suffering from more frequent and severe wildfires, Lithun also believes the market opportunity for an efficient, versatile, clean-sheet firefighting aircraft is significant and this is the basis for a plan first reported in May.
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