The US Air Force officially launched its Agility Prime initiative when it issued a request for information (RFI) on Dec. 17, 2019 - the 116th anniversary of the Wright Flyer making the first heavier-than-air powered flight. In the first intake of companies in the Air Force's "Air Race to Certification," some 20 eVTOL companies applied to participate. The Air Force stipulated that they had to meet the precondition of having a flying prototype or proof-of-concept aircraft by Dec. 17, 2020 (this has now been extended a year, for a second cohort of eVTOL developers). The Air Race is not really a race between electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) companies, but an Air Force-sponsored initiative to accelerate the maturity of eVTOL technology, US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aircraft certification and entry into commercial service. All the companies that were accepted into the first tranche of Air Race participants were required to go through a three-phase review process: a "solution brief or written submission; a "company engagement," which includes a site visit by Air Force personnel to inspect an aircraft and learn about its systems; and a request for prototype proposal (RPP), where qualifying companies are invited to submit a full written proposal to win a multi-year Other Transaction for Prototype (OTP) contract.
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