Archer Aviation, Safran Partnership Yields Cutting-Edge Avionics Technology For Archer’s Midnight

Archer Avi­a­tion and Safran Elec­tron­ics & Defence (SED) announced this week details of their ongo­ing part­ner­ship on cut­ting-edge avion­ics tech­nol­o­gy going back to 2021, reports a press. The col­lab­o­ra­tion focus­es on deliv­er­ing ground­break­ing solu­tions for Archer util­is­ing SED’s “indus­try-lead­ing com­po­nents,” explains the release, “that have a proven track record of safe­ty and per­for­mance.”

The two com­pa­nies have start­ed focus­ing their devel­op­ment and test­ing on Safran Elec­tron­ics & Defense’s ultra-com­pact avion­ics plat­form (UCAP) flight con­trol com­put­er (FCC) and Sky­Naute nav­i­ga­tion sys­tem, both used in the Mid­night eVTOL air­craft.

Archer’s employ­ment of SED’s UCAP FCC and Sky­Naute nav­i­ga­tion sys­tem “is a key ele­ment of its goal to achieve the most effi­cient path to cer­ti­fi­ca­tion,” con­tin­ues the release.

We’re proud to announce our col­lab­o­ra­tion with @SAFRAN has helped pro­duce cut­ting-edge avion­ics tech­nol­o­gy for our Mid­night eVTOL Air­craft that achieves high per­for­mance and integri­ty while pro­vid­ing a 35% reduc­tion in size and weight when com­pared to alter­na­tives.

Learn more… pic.twitter.com/TSvdf8RaSV

— Archer (@ArcherAviation) June 21, 2023

Equipped with a pow­er­ful mul­ti-core proces­sor, SED’s UCAP, “Pro­vides high-per­for­mance com­put­ing capa­bil­i­ties, as well as high-integri­ty and safe­ty fea­tures. Sky­Naute adheres to the safe­ty and reli­a­bil­i­ty require­ments nec­es­sary for cer­ti­fi­ca­tion by rely­ing on mature and proven tech­nolo­gies such as HRG Crys­tal (Hemi­spher­i­cal Res­onator Gyro­scopes).”

The release goes on, “This inno­v­a­tive nav­i­ga­tion sys­tem achieves high per­for­mance and integri­ty while pro­vid­ing a 35 per­cent reduc­tion in size and weight when com­pared to alter­na­tives.”

Mid­night on Dis­play at Paris Air­show (Cred­it: Archer/Aviation Week)

Adam Gold­stein, Archer’s co-Founder and CEO, com­ment­ed, “Our col­lab­o­ra­tion speaks vol­umes to the con­fi­dence Safran has in our path towards cer­ti­fi­ca­tion and com­mer­cial­i­sa­tion in 2025. Lend­ing their world-class exper­tise and sup­port along­side our design and engi­neer­ing teams is a crit­i­cal com­po­nent to our suc­cess and togeth­er we will rede­fine the future of air mobil­i­ty.” 

Franck Saudo, CEO of SED, added, “These suc­cess­ful achieve­ments with UCAP flight com­put­er and Sky­Naute nav­i­ga­tion sys­tem help to pave the way for the entry into ser­vice of Archer’s eVTOL air­craft.”

Archer’s Mid­night is a pilot­ed, four pas­sen­ger air­craft designed to per­form rapid back-to-back flights with min­i­mal charge time in-between flights. With a range of up to 100 miles and an expect­ed pay­load of approx­i­mate­ly 1,000 lbs, the company’s goal is to trans­form urban trav­el, replac­ing 60 to 90 minute com­mutes by car, with esti­mat­ed 10 to 20 minute elec­tric air taxi flights “that are safe, sus­tain­able, low noise and cost com­pet­i­tive with ground trans­porta­tion.”

For more infor­ma­tion

https://www.archer.com

(Top image: Safran CEO, Franck Saudo, and Archer founder and CEO, Adam Gold­stein at Paris Air Show in front of Archer’s Mid­night Air­craft — cred­it: Archer)