NASA unveiled the X-70 Fractal, a crewed experimental aircraft with rapidly reconfigurable flight-control technology, at the UP.Summit at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on November 4, 2026. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency expects “her first flight under the NASA banner within the next two years.”

NASA describes the X-70 as a high-performance, highly adaptable research platform meant to speed up the development and testing of advanced aviation technologies. The agency says its flight-control technology will let it explore aircraft maneuverability in ways never before shown in crewed flight, and that it can carry up to 2,000 pounds of experimental payloads in internal and external locations.

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What NASA has disclosed

According to NASA’s release, the X-70 Fractal has a takeoff weight of 10,000 pounds and is designed to cruise at Mach .75, reach altitudes of up to 45,000 feet and fly an operational range exceeding about 1,500 nautical miles (1,726 miles). The release does not name a manufacturer, an engine or a base aircraft, and it does not give a cost.

Isaacman said the X-70 gives NASA “a crewed, high-performance platform to test advanced flight-control” and other technologies in real flight. Laurie Grindle, director of the Aeronautics Division within NASA’s Research and Technology Mission Directorate, said it is “exciting to bring on another X-plane to accelerate and drive aeronautics research.”

Where the X-70 fits among NASA’s X-planes

NASA places the X-70 in a line of experimental aircraft that includes the Bell X-1, the first to break the sound barrier in 1947, the X-15 hypersonic research aircraft and the X-59 quiet supersonic demonstrator.

The X-59, the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, made its first flight on October 28, 2025, taking off from U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, and landing at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, after 67 minutes, according to NASA. AirPro News has followed the X-59’s first year of flight testing.

The two aircraft serve different purposes. NASA built the X-59 to prove that supersonic flight over land can be quiet enough for public acceptance, while it presents the X-70 as a highly adaptable platform for carrying experimental payloads and testing flight-control technology in crewed flight.

What comes next

NASA says the X-70 will expand its capacity for experimental flight research, speed up testing of emerging technologies and help advance American aviation. Beyond Isaacman’s expectation of a first flight under the NASA banner within two years, the release gives no test schedule, test location or payload customers for the aircraft.

GE Aerospace and BETA Technologies have completed what GE Aerospace calls the first hybrid electric assisted takeoff of a plane designed for commercial airliner altitudes with passengers, using a modified Saab 340B at BETA’s flight test facility in Plattsburgh, New York. Early observations show the hybrid electric takeoff was quieter than a takeoff on gas engines alone, the company said.

GE Aerospace announced the milestone at the Up.Summit industry event, in a press release dated November 4, 2026. Earlier hybrid flights used electric assist during climb and cruise, plus power regeneration during cruise and descent, according to the release.

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How the test aircraft is set up

The Saab 340B carries a traditional GE Aerospace CT7 gas engine on one side. On the other side is a modified hybrid electric engine, which GE Aerospace describes as a fully integrated megawatt-class, multi-kilovolt propulsion system. During the takeoff, electric motors and a battery system supplied extra power.

GE Aerospace Vice President of Future of Flight Engineering Arjan Hegeman said the company is proving a suite of technologies, including hybrid systems and the Open Fan architecture, to meet customer needs. “GE Aerospace is advancing the building blocks that will define the future of hybrid electric flight,” he said.

The release does not give the takeoff power split, the battery capacity or a noise figure. GE Aerospace described the noise result as an early observation.

From a ground rig to the Atlantic crossing

GE Aerospace’s megawatt-class hybrid electric work has a long history with NASA. According to a NASA article published on July 20, 2026, the agency spent about seven years on preliminary research with small businesses and other partners, working on power, thermal and battery technology and on integrating the power system, engine and aircraft. In 2022, GE Aerospace tested an integrated version of its propulsion system at NASA’s Electric Aircraft Testbed at the Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio, simulating 45,000 feet, the altitude range where commercial single-aisle aircraft fly.

NASA said the engine it developed with GE Aerospace integrates electric motors, a gas turbine and energy storage, and was designed to power an aircraft about the size of a regional-class jet, with the aim of reducing fuel burn and costs without sacrificing performance. “This is the culmination of more than 15 years of work,” said Ralph Jansen, an aerospace engineer at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.

In May 2026, GE Aerospace, NASA, BETA and Boeing achieved the first hybrid electric flight above 30,000 feet, matching passenger airliner altitudes, through the NASA Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration (EPFD) project, GE Aerospace said. The EPFD aircraft then ferried to the United Kingdom for the Farnborough International Airshow, in what the company describes as the first hybrid electric flights to cross the Atlantic. NASA said the Farnborough appearance was the system’s public debut.

The BETA partnership

BETA’s role builds on a partnership the two companies announced on September 4, 2025. Under that agreement, which was subject to regulatory approval, GE Aerospace said it would make a $300 million equity investment in BETA and would have the right to designate a director to BETA’s board. The companies also said they planned to develop a hybrid electric turbogenerator for Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) applications, including long-range Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) aircraft and future BETA aircraft, using GE Aerospace’s CT7 and T700 engine capabilities.

Where hybrid fits in GE Aerospace’s engine plans

GE Aerospace said hybrid systems work with different fuel types and with advanced architectures such as Open Fan, which removes the traditional engine casing to allow a larger fan with less drag. Both technologies are being developed through the CFM RISE program.

According to the release, RISE was unveiled in 2021 and has completed about 500 test campaigns and more than 10,000 endurance and dust ingestion cycles. It covers Open Fan, compact core and hybrid electric systems, and targets more than 20% better fuel burn than current commercial engines. CFM International is a 50-50 joint company of GE Aerospace and Safran Aircraft Engines.

For operators and lessors, the main caveat is in the release itself: GE Aerospace said RISE is a demonstration program, not a product for sale. The company did not give a schedule for further hybrid electric tests or a target aircraft program.

VÆRIDION has closed a €30 million Series A2 round to build the first conforming prototype of its nine-passenger, all-electric Microliner, and the European Commission has selected the company’s CAROLUS project for a €94.5 million Innovation Fund grant to set up final assembly at Oberpfaffenhofen Airport near Munich.

In a press release dated November 5, 2026, the Munich-based manufacturer put the combined equity and grant funding at more than €124 million. The two are separate: the equity pays for the first conforming aircraft and integrated battery and propulsion testing, while the grant agreement is expected to be signed in 2027, and the selection remains subject to its completion. VÆRIDION also said it now holds commitments for more than 130 aircraft, valued at more than €730 million.

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Who is backing the Series A2

The equity round was led by a European consortium of SHIFT Invest and Invest-NL. Existing investors World Fund, Project A and Vsquared Ventures took part, along with PAYBACK founder Alexander Rittweger and others. Including this round and earlier public funding, VÆRIDION said it has raised about €60 million to date.

SHIFT Invest is an Amsterdam-based venture capital fund that has backed more than 70 startups since 2009, and its investors include KLM, Schiphol and TU Delft, according to the release. Invest-NL supports entrepreneurs and projects in the Netherlands. World Fund reports €300M in assets under management, Project A reports €1.2B, and Vsquared Ventures counts Isar Aerospace and The Exploration Company in its portfolio.

“Over the past year, we have turned the Microliner from a validated design into hardware, with exceptional capital efficiency.”

Ivor van Dartel, founder and CEO of VÆRIDION, said that propulsion and battery technology is being tested at the company’s Oberpfaffenhofen facility, that the equity enables the first conforming aircraft, and that the grant supports the industrial capability for Microliner production. Thijs Gitmans, general partner at SHIFT Invest, said: “Regional aviation is one of the clearest cases where electrification makes both environmental and commercial sense.” He added that the company “has chosen a certification pathway regulators already understand.”

The Innovation Fund grant behind CAROLUS

CAROLUS will establish and ramp up a final assembly facility at Oberpfaffenhofen Airport. VÆRIDION said the project was chosen from 358 applications as one of only 12 large-scale projects, that it is the only aviation project in that category, and that VÆRIDION is the only German company in it.

The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Climate Action said on May 29, 2026, that the Innovation Fund 2025 Net-Zero Technologies call, launched on December 4, 2025, and closed on April 23, 2026, drew 358 applications requesting €17.5 billion against an earmarked budget of €2.9 billion. The money comes from revenues of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS). The Commission has since announced that it selected 77 net-zero technology projects for €3.4 billion in funding from the call launched in December 2025.

The grant follows earlier EU support for the programme. On March 3, 2026, the European Investment Bank (EIB) said its advisers were helping VÆRIDION, under the EU Innovation Fund’s project development assistance, to prepare a detailed business plan, a financing structure and a risk analysis, with the aim of readying the project for future Innovation Fund applications and other funding.

Where the Microliner programme stands

Design and certification basis

VÆRIDION was founded in 2021, according to the EIB, and is headquartered in Munich with subsidiaries in Delft and Brussels. The clean-sheet Microliner has a glider-inspired wing, patented integrated modular batteries and a multi-engine, single-propeller propulsion system. It targets a range of 400 km (about 216 nautical miles) with nine passengers under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR), or up to 550 km (about 297 nautical miles) with four passengers under Visual Flight Rules (VFR). Passenger and cargo versions are planned, and the company says the aircraft can carry either nine passengers or 10 m³ of cargo.

The aircraft is being developed to EASA CS-23 requirements. In the past 12 months, VÆRIDION completed its Preliminary Design Review and a second Pre-Application Contract with EASA. AirPro News covered the Preliminary Design Review milestone in June, when the company passed 100 aircraft commitments. In March 2026, it opened its production and test facility at Oberpfaffenhofen Airport, where it has powered on its electric engine for the first time.

Next steps on the ground

Battery packs and the propulsion system will next be integrated on a ground-test rig the company calls the “copper bird.” That work, together with wind-tunnel testing, supports the first conforming Microliner and flight-test preparations. The aircraft is engineered in Munich and Delft and will be built in Bavaria. The EIB’s March release gave 2027 as the target for first flight and 2030 for the start of scheduled service after certification.

The regional market case

VÆRIDION argues that regional aviation is highly exposed to fuel price shocks, saying jet fuel prices more than doubled year-on-year by October 2026. The company said more than 21,000 small turboprops serve regional routes worldwide, with an average age of 23 years, and that no new aircraft of this size has entered service in 30 years. Citing the European Regions Airline Association (ERAA), it said about 120 regional routes in Europe were discontinued in the five years before June 2026.

The Microliner targets operating costs below €0.40 per seat-kilometre, which the company said would allow fares at first-class rail ticket levels. It also cites a McKinsey estimate that the global regional air mobility market could reach up to $115 billion by 2035. In the EIB’s March release, van Dartel said Europe already has 2,300 regional airports.

The commitments come from regional airlines, charter operators and lessors, with ASL Group as launch customer. KLM, BayernLB and TrueNoord support the company through its Market Advisory Committee. AirPro News has followed the aircraft since the Microliner programme launch.