Air Force Research Laboratory award for ground and flight testing of Electra’s Ultra-Short Takeoff and Landing (Ultra-STOL) aircraft to evaluate hybrid-electric performance and operational benefits for military missions

MANASSAS, Va., Nov. 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Electra Defense today announced it has received a $4.7 million innovative capabilities opening (ICO) contract award from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to advance hybrid-electric aircraft power and propulsion technologies through a comprehensive program of ground testing and flight testing.

The ICO will support testing and evaluation of Electra’s EL9 aircraft and its hybrid-electric propulsion systems, generating critical performance data to help the U.S. Air Force assess the potential of next-generation ultra-short takeoff and landing (Ultra-STOL) aircraft for military operations. The effort will also examine how hybrid-electric aviation can expand operational access, strengthen distributed logistics, and support the Air Force’s Agile Combat Employment (ACE) doctrine.

The $4.7 million award marks the latest development in Electra’s longstanding partnership with AFRL to advance hybrid-electric aviation technologies for military applications. In 2023, Electra received a Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) award valued at up to $85 million to support development of its full-scale preproduction aircraft. That collaboration has since included flight demonstrations and government-directed testing, most recently during AFRL’s Future Flag 25-3 exercise in 2025, where Electra demonstrated the potential of Ultra-STOL aircraft and hybrid-electric propulsion to support runway-independent distributed military operations and mobile power generation.

“This award represents an important step in demonstrating how hybrid-electric aircraft technology can address some of the Air Force’s most pressing operational challenges,” said Donn Yates, Vice President and General Manager of Electra Defense. “Power and propulsion are fundamental to unlocking new capabilities for military aviation. Through this effort, we’re moving to generate real-world aircraft performance data that will help the Air Force evaluate how these technologies can support more agile, distributed, and resilient operations.”

Under the contract, Electra will conduct a series of technical evaluations focused on aircraft performance, hybrid-electric propulsion system functionality, and operational effectiveness. The effort includes verification of key hybrid-electric power and propulsion technologies, extensive ground testing of the EL9 preproduction aircraft, and acoustic flight testing to characterize the ability to conduct battery-only low-signature ingress and egress for special operations missions. These activities will provide the Air Force with insights into aircraft performance and mission effectiveness while advancing technology maturity.

The program will also evaluate the potential operational advantages of hybrid-electric ultra-STOL aircraft through modeling and simulation, including their ability to operate from a wider range of locations, support the rapid dispersal of personnel and time-sensitive cargo, and reduce dependence on traditional aviation infrastructure and ground support equipment. The findings will help inform future Air Force technology development and acquisition decisions.

“Future military operations will demand aircraft that can operate with greater flexibility, access more locations, and reduce the logistical burden on deployed forces,” Yates added. “The combination of hybrid-electric power, distributed propulsion, and Ultra Short takeoff and landing capability offers a fundamentally discriminating approach to tactical mobility. This contract will help us quantify those advantages and demonstrate their potential value to the Air Force.”

About Electra

Electra.aero, Inc. (Electra) is an advanced aerospace company building hybrid-electric Ultra Short airplanes that achieve unprecedented performance advantages to fly people and cargo seamlessly without airports, emissions, or noise. With the EL9 Ultra Short, Electra is pioneering Direct Aviation, the next level of connectivity that brings air travel closer to where we live, work, and play. Electra’s Ultra Short technology delivers 2.5x the payload and 10x longer range with 70% lower operating costs than helicopters and eVTOLs, with significantly greater safety and far less certification risk.

Electra’s team includes some of the most respected and successful entrepreneurs and engineers in novel aircraft design, with over 40 prior aircraft successfully developed and/or certified. Lockheed Martin Ventures, Honeywell, and Safran are among Electra’s strategic investors, along with Prysm Capital, Statkraft Ventures (Norway’s sovereign fund), the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC), and other private investors. Electra’s contracted customers include NASA, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Army, and the U.S. Navy, along with over 2,200 letters of intent from 60+ commercial customers, including both airlines and helicopter operators.

About AFRL

The Air Force Research Laboratory is the Department of the Air Force’s primary scientific research and development center and one of six centers within Air Force Materiel Command. AFRL leads the discovery, development and delivery of technologies for air, space and the multidomain. With a workforce spanning seven mission areas at more than 40 locations worldwide, AFRL conducts research ranging from basic science to advanced technology development. For more information, visit afresearchlab.com.

About AFWERX

AFWERX, the innovation arm of the Department of the Air Force and a division within the Air Force Research Laboratory, partners with small businesses, startups and nontraditional vendors to address challenges facing Airmen and Guardians. Headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, AFWERX strengthens the defense industrial base by expanding access to innovators, building partnerships and accelerating the transition of critical technologies to operational capability. In fiscal year 2025, AFWERX awarded more than 1,000 contracts totaling $1.37 billion and achieved 438 Phase III transitions valued at $8.1 billion. For more information, visit afwerx.com.

Media Contact
Dan Palumbo
Dan@vrge.us
301.875.2356

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SOURCE Electra.aero

ASHEVILLE, N.C., Nov. 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Southeastern Tile Connection sponsors AMOS’s 10th-anniversary gala, Under the Stars, on Nov. 6 to support hands-on STEM education across Western North Carolina.

Southeastern Tile Connection’s Mills River team is supporting science education in Western North Carolina as an Exploration Sponsor of Under the Stars: A Decade of Discovery, the signature annual fundraiser of the Asheville Museum of Science (AMOS). This year’s event celebrates the museum’s 10th anniversary and takes place Friday, November 6, at the Highland Brewing Company Event Center in Asheville, with a VIP reception from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. and the main event from 6:30 to 10:00 p.m.

For 10 years, AMOS has connected children, families, educators, and visitors with hands-on science. Under the Stars will recognize the people and partnerships that helped build the museum and offer a look at what’s ahead. Guests will hear from NASA astronaut John Casper, enjoy live music from Cloud Circuit and food from Daymakers Slider Bar, and take part in a premier auction.

Funds raised support hands-on exhibits, field trips, outreach education, accessible museum admission, STEM programming, and the educators who bring these experiences to life across Western North Carolina.

“We are excited to be part of this incredible event in support of the Asheville Museum of Science and its vision for the future! We’re proud to support an organization that inspires curiosity, fosters learning, and creates meaningful opportunities for our community. We look forward to seeing its continued growth and impact for generations to come,” said Leland Decker, Business Development Manager at Southeastern Tile Connection.

Southeastern Tile Connection serves homeowners, builders, and designers across the Asheville area from its Mills River showroom. Its support of AMOS helps bring hands-on science learning to children and families throughout the region.

Southeastern Tile Connection thanks the Asheville Museum of Science for its work in the community and congratulates the AMOS team on ten years of inspiring curious minds.

Tickets and event details are available at ashevillescience.org/under-the-stars. Learn more about Southeastern Tile Connection at setileconnection.com.

Press Contact:

Mike Nichols
(910) 799-5565
www.setileconnection.com

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SOURCE Southeastern Tile Connection

Advisors from Zscaler, Ivanti, Sapiens, AMINA Bank and Forrester’s Zero Trust research will guide product priorities as AI agents and non-human identities expand the attack surface

PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Security teams rarely lack tools. What they often lack is connected context: a clear view of how identities, assets, exposures and controls combine into viable attack paths.

Mesh Security, the unified intelligence layer for enterprise security teams, today announced that five cybersecurity leaders have joined its strategic advisory board: Yiannis Vassiliades, CISO in Residence at Zscaler; Jack Nelson, CISO and Deputy General Counsel at Ivanti; Guy Avnor, CISO at Sapiens; Jeff Schiemann, former CISO at AMINA Bank; and Dr. Chase Cunningham, creator of Forrester’s Zero Trust eXtended (ZTX) framework.

Collectively, the advisors bring experience spanning cloud security, enterprise software, insurance technology, regulated banking and Zero Trust strategy. They will provide practitioner perspectives on Mesh’s product priorities, enterprise adoption, and board-level reporting and decision-making as AI agents and non-human identities expand the enterprise attack surface.

“Security tools are effective at the jobs they were designed to do, but attackers move across the boundaries between them,” said Netanel (Neo) Azoulay, CEO and co-founder of Mesh Security. “Yiannis, Jack, Guy, Jeff and Chase bring the operating and strategic perspective to help us show teams which paths are genuinely exploitable — and give security leaders clear evidence for action.”

About the advisors

Yiannis Vassiliades, CISO in Residence at Zscaler, brings nearly three decades of cybersecurity experience. He previously served as Chief Product Officer at Ostrich Cyber-Risk and helped establish and scale Sophos’s MDR business.

Jack Nelson, CISO and Deputy General Counsel at Ivanti, works across cybersecurity, enterprise risk and legal strategy.

Guy Avnor, CISO at Sapiens, leads information security for the global insurance software provider.

Jeff Schiemann, former CISO of FINMA-regulated AMINA Bank, was a 2025 Swiss CISO of the Year finalist.

Dr. Chase Cunningham, widely known as “Dr. Zero Trust,” formerly served as Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, where he developed the ZTX framework. He is also a retired U.S. Navy Chief Cryptologic Technician.

Advisors serve in their personal capacities. Company affiliations are provided for identification only.

About Mesh Security

Mesh Security is the unified intelligence layer for enterprise security teams. As organizations scale across cloud, SaaS, on-premises and AI environments, security data fragments across disconnected tools. Mesh connects to the tools a team already runs, without agents, correlates signals across domains and reveals the viable attack paths to an organization’s most critical assets. It also inventories, detects and responds to AI agents, non-human identities and MCP connections.

Built as the world’s first Cybersecurity Mesh Architecture (CSMA) platform, Mesh gives security teams context no single tool can provide. Teams prioritize the exposures that matter, fix them through guided remediation workflows and reduce risk without replacing their existing security stack. Learn more at https://mesh.security.

Media contact

Rae Medina
rae@mesh.security

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mesh-security-appoints-five-security-leaders-to-strategic-advisory-board-302933628.html

SOURCE Mesh Security