[Music] the US Air Force has received its first midnight electric vertical takeoff and Landing EV aircraft from Archer Aviation as part of a contract signed in 2023 the delivery followed the pentagon's airworthiness assessment of the system before the corresponding flight test under the Air Force's Innovation arm afw RX after the recent Handover in selenis California the midnight was deployed for another set of Trials which involved intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance flights medical evacuation and cargo simulations the US Air Force's latest EV is the first of six provided under the 142 Mill I dollar agreement with archer Aviation the California based company accepted the contract in support of afw rx's agility Prime program to research and employee v's and unmanned aerial systems for different use cases across the US military in June 2024 the midnight completed its transition flight at speeds of more than 100 m60.9 km per hour over Santa Clara archers midnight aircraft is operating by a single pilot and can accommodate up to four passengers it is powered by 12 electric motors independent battery packs and propellers with two blades for VTO function and five for tilt the platform features a low-noise flight and a capacity for more than 1,000 lb of payload midnight has a cruise speed of up to 150 mph a range of up to 50 Mi and a maximum altitude of 2,000 ft