NTU Singapore completes eVTOL prototype flight test campaign in Germany with DLR
Why It MattersThe tests advance Singapore's push to build indigenous electric-aircraft design and systems-engineering capability, a step toward homegrown advanced air mobility technology.
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore has completed a month-long flight-test campaign in Germany with Singapore's first indigenously designed, engineered and built electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft. Working with flight-test experts from the German Aerospace Center, the NTU team flew a larger 8-metre wingspan demonstrator to heights above 90 metres, while a 3-metre wingspan demonstrator reached speeds of more than 120 km/h, generating data on the aircraft's performance.
The campaign ran from July to August 2026 at the DLR National Experimental Test Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Cochstedt, Germany, where the prototypes demonstrated the eVTOL design's ability to hover, fly using fixed wings and transition between the two modes.
NTU Singapore said the flights mark a historic first for the country, demonstrating its ability to design, engineer, build, integrate and fly a complete electric aircraft, and lay the groundwork for further research into electric aviation. Professor Louis Phee, NTU's Vice President for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, said the programme aims to build the capability to design, engineer and build an airworthy electric aircraft with a novel design useful for transporting goods and people. The research is supported by the university and Singapore's Industry Alignment Fund – Pre-Positioning initiative under the Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2025 plan, in collaboration with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research.
