In a significant development for aviation in the digital era, the United States Air Force Research Laboratory has granted Istari Digital, Inc. a $19.1 million contract on September 20, 2023. This contract aims to obtain the world’s inaugural airworthiness certification, achieved via Military Flight Release, for a digital aircraft utilizing cutting-edge digital engineering methods.

The program, named Flyer Øne in tribute to the Wright Brothers, is set to develop a digital-first, fixed-wing drone to showcase and reduce risks associated with a new digital-first engineering process, spanning from design to certification. No aircraft has ever received digital certification for real-world flight before, and Flyer Øne aims to change that.

Dr. Will Roper, Founder and CEO of Istari Digital, emphasized the United States Air Force’s leadership in driving digital transformation within the defense sector. Certification represents the next phase in enhancing digital engineering standards and transforming the industry, with Flyer Øne serving as the pivotal catalyst, akin to the Kitty Hawk moment.

Flyer Øne will leverage an aerospace company’s expertise in aircraft design, combining it with Istari Digital’s innovative digital engineering platform and processes. This partnership will adapt existing aircraft models to Istari Digital’s all-digital engineering workflow, demonstrating a faster and more cost-effective approach that could have widespread applications across the aerospace industry.

Traditional physical aircraft prototyping has proven slow and expensive, hindering hardware innovation and creative engineering. Istari Digital intends to introduce Industry 4.0 practices to aviation, drawing inspiration from successful implementations in industries like Formula 1 racing.

Through Istari Digital’s plug-and-play digital thread technology, Flyer Øne will illustrate, via authoritative digital modeling and simulation, that a digital aircraft can meet real-world performance and safety standards for certification. This process will automatically integrate all models, simulations, requirements, and certifications across the aircraft’s lifecycle into a comprehensive digital thread.

Istari Digital will create digital versions of essential lifecycle models for development, testing, design reviews, and airworthiness certification. Multiple Department of Defense processes will undergo digitization for the first time, enhancing efficiency and rigor throughout the Military Flight Release process.

Flyer Øne is poised to establish a precedent for the digitization of aviation, akin to the practices seen in Formula 1 racing, opening the door to further digital innovations. Formula 1 teams utilize authoritative modeling and simulation to design thousands of digital cars each season, with many never physically built, yet confidently certified for real-world performance and safety. This software-like agility is possible because racing hardware primarily evolves in digital threads.

Dr. Roper emphasized that digital engineering won’t revolutionize aerospace overnight or eliminate errors magically, but it has the potential to transform the industry, as demonstrated by digital transformations in other sectors such as Formula 1 racing and medical devices.

Istari Digital, Inc., founded by Will Roper and supported by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, is dedicated to realizing the vision of digital engineering ecosystems, where all technologies are digitally created. The company is developing an advanced digital engineering collaboration platform to simplify and enhance the impact of digital threads, laying the foundation for an engineering metaverse of the future.