EXAELIA

Main Goals of the Project

To achieve the 2050 target for reducing emissions from long-range air transport — a sector that accounts for about 10% of global air traffic yet contributes nearly 50% of CO₂ emissions — it will be necessary, over the coming decades, to develop radically innovative aero-propulsive configurations and technologies. Their introduction into the market will nevertheless require a substantial technological maturation process.

The EXAELIA project aims to develop a programme of European Flying Test Beds (FTBs): a set of shared European in-flight testing infrastructures, highly flexible and modular, designed to accelerate the development and validation of disruptive aeronautical architectures and aircraft technologies, that integrate propulsion systems based on hydrogen or sustainable fuels.

The project makes use of multidisciplinary digital tools for the pre-design of Future Long-Range Aircraft (FLRA), assessing their performance, environmental impact, and future in-flight testing needs. EXAELIA also intends to define technological roadmaps for future long-range aircraft and their enabling technologies, identifying the FTBs required to support their development and outlining operational strategies as well as usage and business approaches for these infrastructures.

CIRA Activities in the Project

CIRA is involved in all project Work Packages, acts as coordinator of WP2 (Requirements, Technologies and Methodologies), and participates in the project’s governance bodies. In particular, CIRA contributes to EXAELIA through the following technical activities:

• Gathering the requirements and in-flight testing needs associated with the innovative technologies under consideration, and developing technology-maturation roadmaps in cooperation with project partners.
• Analysing and outlining certification guidelines for the adoption of new aircraft architectures and technologies, thus supporting FLRA design choices that are aligned with expected future certification frameworks. CIRA also performs environmental impact assessments of the new FLRA configurations, including noise and life-cycle analysis.
• Developing functional models or specific designs for selected enabling technologies of the FLRAs, such as advanced high-lift systems (morphing + flow control), hybrid low-power anti-icing systems, noise-reduction technologies based on meta-liners, and HUMS (Health & Usage Monitoring System) solutions.
• Developing a modular 6-DoF simulation model for flight-dynamics analysis of Blended Wing Body (BWB) and High Aspect Ratio Wing (HARW) configurations equipped with different propulsion systems.
• Defining the requirements and conducting the pre-design of a Ground Control Station for manned and unmanned operations of future FTBs; contributing to the preliminary structural design of an HARW-based FTB; and supporting the development of a CFD aerodynamic database for a 25-kg scaled demonstrator featuring a BWB configuration.

General Project Information

Funding Programme: Horizon Europe

Start Date: 01/01/2025 ; End Date: 30/06/2028

Official Project Website: https://exaelia.eu/

Coordinating Organization: NLR

Partners: NLR, ONERA, DLR, CIRA, ILOT, INTA, INCAS, AIT, CEIIA, CU, USTUTT, UPAT, TUD, HIT09, EASN-TIS, CHALMERS, AUTH, ISAE-SUPAERO, BHL, TUBS, OAG, UNINA, LUP

CIRA Contact: Pierluigi Iannelli, p.iannelli@cira.it