Electra and Safran Sign Production Agreement for TG600 Turbogenerator

Elec­tra and Safran Heli­copter Engines have reached a life-of-pro­gram pro­duc­tion agree­ment for the TG600 tur­bo­gen­er­a­tor, which will pow­er Electra’s EL9 Ultra Short hybrid-elec­tric air­craft.

The agree­ment, announced July 15, 2026, includes an ini­tial order for 250 TG600 units, with pro­duc­tion scal­ing based on demand. It builds on a 2023 mem­o­ran­dum of under­stand­ing between the com­pa­nies. Entry into ser­vice for the EL9 is tar­get­ed for 2030.

The TG600 tur­bo­gen­er­a­tor con­sists of a gas tur­bine com­bined with elec­tric gen­er­a­tors and pow­er reg­u­la­tion sys­tems. It is based on Safran’s Arra­no engine, which offers an 18% reduc­tion in fuel con­sump­tion com­pared to sim­i­lar in-ser­vice engines. The sys­tem will sup­ply 600 kW of elec­tric­i­ty and includes two GENeUS elec­tric gen­er­a­tors from Safran Elec­tri­cal & Pow­er.

Electra’s EL9 Ultra Short air­craft uses hybrid-elec­tric propul­sion and blown-lift tech­nol­o­gy, enabling it to take off and land in as lit­tle as 150 feet. This capa­bil­i­ty is intend­ed to unlock oper­a­tions from loca­tions not tra­di­tion­al­ly served by com­mer­cial avi­a­tion, such as areas clos­er to pop­u­la­tion cen­ters.

Marc Allen, CEO of Elec­tra, described the agree­ment as a sig­nif­i­cant step for both com­pa­nies and for advanced air mobil­i­ty. Cédric Gou­bet, CEO of Safran Heli­copter Engines, high­light­ed the partnership’s focus on com­bin­ing engine tech­nol­o­gy with elec­tric sys­tems to cre­ate an advanced hybrid-elec­tric solu­tion.

The EL9 is designed to address the region­al mobil­i­ty gap for trips of rough­ly 50 to 250 miles, where dri­ving is time-con­sum­ing and tra­di­tion­al flights often require con­nec­tions through major hubs. Electra’s Direct Avi­a­tion Mar­ket Out­look esti­mates sig­nif­i­cant demand for such region­al ser­vices, pro­ject­ing a need for 12,000 to 16,000 air­craft in the first decade of oper­a­tions.

Ear­li­er this year, Elec­tra and Bris­tow Group announced a pre-deliv­ery pay­ment agree­ment for the EL9, secur­ing the first deliv­ery slot sub­ject to cer­ti­fi­ca­tion. Elec­tra has sub­mit­ted the air­craft for FAA Part 23 type cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, with first flight antic­i­pat­ed in late 2027 or ear­ly 2028.

Thomas Sleightholm

Thomas is a con­tent writer for eVTOL Insights, cov­er­ing all aspects of the glob­al Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty ecosys­tem. Got a sto­ry for him? Please send an email to editorial@evtolinsights.com

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