A new venture is taking off: The new Clean Aviation technology program, HEROPS (Hydrogen-Electric Zero Emission Propulsion System), was launched in mid-January. Some 30 representatives of the participating partners in the fields of industry, research, and science came to Munich for the kickoff event at MTU Aero Engines. Building on MTU’s Flying Fuel Cell, the goal is to develop technologies for a climate-neutral, hydrogen-powered electric powertrain that will put regional airplanes in the air starting in 2035. The HEROPS project officially began last September, when the Governing Board of Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking chose eight additional research projects during its second Clean Aviation Call.
During the project’s three-year period, the partners, led by MTU, plan to build a HEROPS Ground Demonstrator with 1.2 megawatts of power. They also want to prove the feasibility of the new, groundbreaking technologies and show that they are highly scalable, reaching between two and four megawatts of power using modular engine architecture.
The HEROPS industry partners are MT Aerospace, RTX’s Collins Aerospace, Lufthansa Technik and Eaton; the research partners are Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre and the Technical University Vienna. The Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking is the European Union’s leading research and innovation program for transforming aviation towards a sustainable and climate-neutral future. It is a successful European public-private partnership between the European Commission through Horizon Europe, the EU research and innovation program, and the European aeronautics industry. Clean Aviation is the successor to the two Clean Sky programs that ran from 2008 to 2024.
The HEROPS partners:
New Caledonia's flagship carrier, Aircalin, has selected Airbus Flight Hour Services (FHS) to support its incoming fleet of Airbus A350-900 aircraft. The airline currently has two o...
flydubai has strengthened its pilot development strategy through new partnerships with Egnatia Aviation and Skyborne Airline Academy, aimed at expanding the airline's training capacity and support...
Aviation evolves through moments of clarity — moments when industry leaders step forward to explain not only what is happening, but why it matters. This conversation with Evgeny Shadov, VP ...
Confidence in Asia's business aviation market is on the rise, according to new research commissioned by Airbus Corporate Jets (ACJ). Industry experts expect demand for business aircraft to grow st...
