Natilus Wins $3.5 Million in Air Force Funding to Advance Its KONA Blended-Wing Freighter

Natilus, a San Diego-based aerospace manufacturer developing blended-wing-body aircraft, received $3.5 million in research, development, test and evaluation funding from Operational Energy - Innovation and the Department of the Air Force through the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Energy, Installations and Environment. The funding will accelerate development of Natilus’ 3.8-ton, optionally piloted KONA regional freighter toward full-scale flight testing and an operationally relevant U.S. Joint Force demonstration.

“With KONA, the Department of War is evaluating a new airlift capability that can generate real-world cost, reliability, payload and utilization data as the broader military requirement matures,” said Aleksey Matyushev, chief executive of Natilus, in a statement. “While we build KONA to meet the global commercial market need for a more efficient regional freighter, this investment and accelerated operational timeline with the Air Force will demonstrate KONA’s payload, range, efficiency and flexibility benefits for the Joint Force.”

For the Joint Force, KONA sits between light utility aircraft, such as the C-208, and larger tactical airlifters, such as the C-130, filling the gap with a new class of sub-tactical lift. With a 3.8-ton payload capacity and 800-nautical-mile range, KONA has short-field capability and compatibility with existing cargo infrastructure, all within a platform sized for regional distribution and contested logistics missions.

In the Indo-Pacific, where long distances, distributed operating locations and constrained fuel logistics place a premium on range and efficiency, the need is particularly relevant. KONA’s blended-wing-body configuration consumes approximately 30% less fuel than comparable conventional aircraft, reducing both aircraft fuel demand and the burden on the logistics network responsible for moving fuel forward.

The company’s commercial development program is supported by venture and strategic capital alongside customer commitments, while the new government funding will support operational demonstration. Natilus is currently advancing KONA toward FAA Part 23 certification and full-scale flight testing.

“The combination of existing commercial investment and new government funding gives us an opportunity to accelerate technologies that can increase capability while reducing operational energy demand. Efficiency translates directly into operational flexibility. KONA provides an opportunity to evaluate how a commercially developed aircraft can contribute to distributed logistics while generating the data needed to inform future requirements,” said Jim Hartle, associate deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for Operational Energy, Safety and Occupational Health, in a statement.

While regional airlift is KONA’s primary defense application, its modular architecture and optional-piloted capability provide a path to additional mission configurations over time, including communications relay, ISR and payload delivery. The initial focus is demonstrating KONA as a right-sized distribution platform for intra-theater lift and contested logistics.

Founded in 2016, Natilus has assembled a team of innovators from Boeing, General Atomics, Northrop Grumman, Scaled Composites, Skunk Works, SpaceX and Piper Aircraft.

Information for this story was provided by Natilus.