FutureFlight
Thales and Diehl Sign Up as CityAirbus NextGen eVTOL Program Partners
The avionics groups will jointly provide flight control computers for the four-passenger eVTOL aircraft that Airbus aims to bring to market in 2025.
CityAirbus NextGen
The two flight control computers for the CityAirbus NextGen eVTOL aircraft will be jointly developed by Thales and Diehl Aerospace. (Image: Airbus)

Thales and Diehl Aerospace this week signed up as partners to help Airbus bring its four-passenger CityAirbus NextGen eVTOL aircraft to market. The European avionics groups will jointly develop flight control computers for the all-electric design that Airbus unveiled in September.

In a November 17 announcement, France’s Thales and Germany-based Diehl said they will integrate their respective primary and secondary flight control computers into a new architecture that will meet the requirements of EASA’s special conditions rules covering eVTOL aircraft type certification. According to the companies, this combination ensures that the second independent flight control computer will constantly monitor data from the primary computer and can take control if needed.