A hybrid-electric aviation company has unveiled a new conceptual aircraft design for next-generation airliners.

Electra’s conceptual aircraft uses a wide “double-bubble” fuselage that allows the body of the aircraft to contribute more lift, while two underwing turbofan engines produce thrust as well as electricity to power electric tail fans that ingest and re-energize slower-moving air over the fuselage.

Latest configuration could deliver up to a 17 percent efficiency

The technique is known as boundary layer ingestion. Electra’s analysis found that the configuration could deliver up to a 17 percent efficiency improvement beyond gains expected by 2050 from advanced structures, engine technologies, and aerodynamic improvements.

“The value of electrification in this concept is that it lets us put the propulsion where it couldn’t go before but does the most good,” said Dr. Parker Vascik, Director of Product Strategy at Electra.

“We can radically improve how the airframe and propulsion system work together while keeping the aircraft grounded in real airline and airport operations. The goal is not just efficiency on paper, but concepts that we can actually build, certify, and use.”

The company also revealed that the concept is designed to fit within existing airport gates and airline operations, use standard jet fuel or sustainable aviation fuel, and avoid reliance on airport charging infrastructure or untested fuel types. The configuration also supports a twin-aisle cabin layout within a narrowbody aircraft class, unlocking improved passenger comfort and more efficient boarding and deplaning. 

The concept is developed as part of NASA’s Advanced Aircraft Concepts for Environmental Sustainability (AACES) 2050 program.

“This concept builds on years of research into how airframe shape and propulsion placement can work together to improve aircraft efficiency,” said Dr. Alejandra Uranga, Electra’s Chief Engineer for Research and Future Concepts.

“What is different now is the ability to use electrification and distributed propulsion to more deeply integrate those systems. Designing the aircraft as a whole system is essential to realizing the full potential of future commercial aircraft.”

NASA’s open-source Aviary multidisciplinary design adopted

In addition to the concept, Electra developed 11 technical papers documenting the models, methods, and findings behind the study. The company also adopted NASA’s open-source Aviary multidisciplinary design and optimization tool and developed an electrified aircraft design suite intended for public use. Together, these contributions are intended to help advance the broader aviation research community, not just push forward a single aircraft concept, according to a press release.

Electra’s AACES 2050 team brought together leaders across industry and academia, including American Airlines, Honeywell Aerospace, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Hinetics, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the University of Michigan Department of Aerospace Engineering, and the University of California, Irvine’s Aircraft Systems Laboratory, as per the release.

“Through AACES, NASA is pushing the industry to think boldly, to use our novel propulsion technologies to unconstrain design thinking for the next generation of commercial aviation,” said Marc Allen, CEO of Electra.

“The third era of aviation will bring radical change to how people and places connect, whether applied to aircraft entering service this decade, future regional platforms, or commercial transport by mid-century. Electra’s focus as the hybrid electric leader is to keep American aviation, and NASA, leading the way.”

A San Diego-based company is set to develop design concepts for a facility dedicated to testing full-scale fusion power-plant “blankets”. For this, General Atomics is collaborating with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

The company revealed that the new Fusion Blanket Component Test Facility (BCTF) would enable scientists and engineers to evaluate integrated fusion blanket systems.

Testing would address a major engineering challenge

General Atomics revealed that these systems use specialized lithium-based materials—solid, liquid, or salt—that line the inside of a fusion vessel to capture energy and produce the tritium needed to sustain fusion reactions. Successful testing would address a major scientific and engineering challenge on the path to realizing the world’s first commercial fusion power plant.

The public-private partnership was initiated by a seed investment from the U.S. Department of Energy, provided to INL to launch preconceptual design and lay the groundwork for establishing key collaborations. In addition to GA, the collaboration will include Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Kyoto Fusioneering, the University of California San Diego, and other key collaborators across industry and academia, according to a press release.

The plan is to develop a design that would leverage GA’s established Magnet Technologies Center, the former site where the ITER Central Solenoid, the world’s most powerful pulsed superconducting magnet, was completed last year. If the project proceeds to full construction, the existing infrastructure provides the advanced equipment and expertise needed to move the project on a faster timeline, as per the release.

Blanket Test Facility

Engineers would use the facility to confirm that circulating blanket fluids can effectively remove heat, withstand mechanical stress, and safely extract fuel at power plant levels—critical steps needed before advancing to more complex neutron and tritium testing.

“The Blanket Test Facility would give the fusion community the speed and scale needed to de-risk next-generation blanket designs,” said Dr. Brian Grierson, director of Fusion Energy Technologies at General Atomics.

“It’s where innovation meets practicality, and where we transform theory into real-world systems.”

Fusion is the same process that powers the sun. Instead of splitting atoms as in traditional nuclear power, fusion fuses light atomic nuclei to release massive amounts of energy, without long-lived radioactive waste. Researchers believe fusion could provide virtually limitless, carbon-free electricity to meet the growing global energy demand.

The project also reinforces San Diego’s growing status as a center for fusion research and development. General Atomics already operates the DIII-D National Fusion Facility, one of the leading magnetic-fusion research centers in the United States. The region is also home to significant academic programs, digital engineering initiatives, and an expanding network of fusion-focused companies and institutions.

Recent policy developments have further strengthened California’s position in the emerging fusion sector. State initiatives aimed at supporting fusion research and commercialization have encouraged investment and collaboration, helping establish an ecosystem designed to accelerate technological breakthroughs.