The UK’s ARC Aero Systems has signed strategic partnership agreement (SPA) with a Saudi-based company to develop innovative aviation solutions and promote manufacturing within the two countries. The deal between ARC Aero Systems and the Riyadh-headquartered defence and security manufacturing specialist Life Shield will open the way for upwards of UKP300 million of investment into the two nations’ aerospace sectors.
ARC Aero Systems is in the advanced stages of developing a specially adapted hybrid-electric powered aircraft which it plans to bring to market by 2026, says the company. The company’s modified design of the Avian Pegasus, a jump take-off gyroplane with specific features including vertical lift and landing, requires virtually no infrastructure in accessing remote communities and supporting emergency responders. This newly developed air taxi has approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration and can transport passengers for commercial purposes.
ARC is also developing a larger nine-seat Linx P9 compound rotorcraft and a C600, one of the largest civilian unmanned aerial vehicles, capable of carrying payloads of up to 100kg across long distances.
According to a company press release: “Supported by Saudi Arabia’s National Industry Development Center, this new partnership will see both the Saudi Government and Life Shield make an equity investment in ARC Systems with the creation of a new company, based in the Middle East nation, called Life Shield Aerospace. The newly formed company will bolster UK manufacturing with the pilot production of each of ARC’s three designs: Pegasus, P9 and C600. Life Shield Aerospace will then set up facilities for wider scale manufacturing of aircraft in Saudi Arabia for domestic use by the country’s Ministry of Air Transport and for worldwide export. The SPA also includes the delivery of UK-based pilot training and it opens the door to a strategic academic collaboration with Cranfield University.
Signing, from left to right: ARC’s founder and CEO, Dr Seyed Mosheni and Mr Hisham AlJuma’an, Chairman of Life Shield
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