MT Magazine July/August 2023

FEATURE STORY

THE TRANSPORTATION ISSUE

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The Archer Midnight electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle . Stellantis will help build the urban mobility aircraft, and United will put it into service in New York and Chicago. ( Image: Archer Aviation )

built, and a 10% tax credit on costs used to produce materials. And there’s the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program: $5 billion for the construction of a national EV charging network, including requirements for charger assembly in the United States as well as the fabrication of the steel or aluminum enclosures, and will, in 2024, require 55% of components to be sourced domestically. But in March 2023, the “National Aeronautics Science & Technology Priorities” report came out of the executive office with important implications. One way of looking at this is that the Wright Brothers put the United States in pole position at the start of the aviation industry, and the U.S. government wants to keep it there. From the report: “The aeronautics enterprise is an integral part of the U.S. economy, annually generating 4.9 percent of U.S. gross domestic product—$1.9 trillion in total economic activity in 2019—and more than 10 million jobs. The aeronautics sector is also a major exporter, the second largest manufacturing export sector in the United States, generating $148 billion in exports in 2019. … Continued investment in state-of-the-art aeronautics research and development (R&D) is critical to ensure the continued vitality of this important sector.” On the one hand, it is about national defense. And on the other, the commercial space, which, according to the priorities, “accommodates approximately 2.3 million passengers and 66,000 tons of cargo on 25,000 flights daily.” And: “These numbers are projected to increase.”

The aeronautics enterprise is an integral part of the U.S. economy, annually generating 4.9 percent of U.S. gross domestic product—$1.9 trillion in total economic activity in 2019—and more than 10 million jobs. The aeronautics sector is also a major exporter, the second largest manufacturing export sector in the United States, generating $148 billion in exports in 2019. … Continued investment in state-of-the-art aeronautics research and development (R&D) is critical to ensure the continued vitality of this important sector. — National Aeronautics Science & Technology Priorities report