MALTA, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 19, 2024--
Wright Electric and its partners have been selected to receive a $3.34M award from the FAA FAST program to develop a new class of batteries that will enable zero emission aircraft flights on large 100+ passenger aircraft.
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It is widely agreed that lightweighting batteries is the most difficult technical challenge preventing the adoption of electric aircraft. The objective of the R&D program is to construct highly energy dense batteries which hold roughly three times more energy per pound of weight than the best electric car batteries. These batteries would enable the wide scale adoption of electric aircraft in the 100+ passenger segment.
“When Wright Electric was founded in 2016, the idea of a battery that would allow aircraft to fly regional routes with reserves seemed like a fantasy to most people,” says Jeff Engler, CEO at Wright Electric. “Now, we are one of several companies with a viable path toward a technology that will enable regional aircraft flights entirely on battery power.”
Wright was founded to address the climate and noise impact of the aerospace industry by building electric aircraft. Wright is focusing on the 100+ passenger aircraft market because this segment accounts for greater than 90% of the carbon emissions of the aerospace industry. Wright builds ultra-power-dense electric aircraft engines and ultra-lightweight batteries for these aircraft. Wright works with NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of Defense.
The batteries Wright is developing use a novel molten Lithium-Sulfur chemistry with the potential for roughly 3x the gravimetric energy capacity of commercial li-ion. In this program Wright will emphasize reducing risks tied to airworthiness and high volume production.
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to mature this technology and accelerate the decarbonization of air transportation in New York State,” says Engler. “This award will greatly accelerate our work to advance clean air travel and we couldn’t be more excited to get started.”
The funding for the FAA FAST program was provided by the Inflation Reduction Act.
“As one of the leading advocates in Congress for innovation and the advancement of clean energy technologies, I’m thrilled to see Malta’s own Wright Electric receive this significant infusion of federal funding,” says Congressman Paul D. Tonko. “This grant, one of just 36 awarded nationwide through the FAA FAST program, will deliver $3.34 million to advance Wright’s groundbreaking work on ultra-lightweight batteries for use on commercial passenger flights. When I visited their facility in 2022, I was deeply impressed by their commitment to pioneering zero-emission regional flights, and I’ve been proud in recent years to support their efforts to secure new federal investments. This award represents a critical step forward for Wright Electric and for our Capital Region, as we continue to lead the nation in the fight against climate change. Going forward, I’m eager to keep working alongside local companies to find innovative solutions to combat our climate crisis.”
Rechargeable Thermal Battery - The above image shows an early prototype of the outer housing for Wright’s novel molten Lithium-Sulfur aviation battery (Photo: Business Wire)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States intensified its strikes targeting Iran early Thursday, hitting targets further north as American forces also fired into a ship it accused of trying to break its naval blockade on the Islamic Republic. Iran retaliated with missile and drone fire targeting Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait before dawn and warned its attacks may escalate.
Days of back-and-forth strikes by the U.S. and Iran across the Middle East — and renewed threats to the Strait of Hormuz — have shredded the interim deal to end the Iran war and could tip the region back into all-out war. Already, Iranian officials say U.S. strikes have killed more than 35 people and wounded over 300 others.
Strikes also reached into areas around Iran’s capital, Tehran, for the first time in this latest round of violence, showing a widening set of targets for the Americans.
When the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran effectively closed the strait to shipping traffic, a move that sent the price of oil, fertilizer and many other goods soaring far beyond the region and gave Iran major leverage in negotiations.
Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesperson for the Iranian military’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, escalated Iran's threats by referencing U.S. President Donald Trump's repeated warning America could hit Iranian bridges and power plants.
“All the infrastructure in the region will be crushed under the steel blows of the powerful armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran” should Trump’s threat be carried out, Zolfaghari said.
“Under no circumstances and in no way will we allow America, as a foreign and extra-regional country, to interfere in the Strait of Hormuz,” he added. “This is Iran’s invincible red line.”
Those rising prices pose a particular challenge to Trump and his Republican Party, which hopes to retain control of Congress in elections in November. But Washington has struggled to successfully reopen the waterway, leading to Trump reimposing the naval blockade Wednesday. Mediators have sought to calm the tensions, but so far have been unsuccessful.
Trump again insisted Iran was ready to strike a peace deal, but he did not elaborate.
“They don’t like what we’re doing, and they do want to settle. We’ll find out whether or not we settle with them, or we just finish it off,” he said Wednesday at the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania.
Trump separately said on social media that Tehran made a goodwill gesture by releasing an American citizen wrongly detained in Iran since 2024. He didn’t release further details. Human rights lawyer Jared Genser released a statement identifying the detainee as his client Dena Karari, a U.S.-Iranian citizen who runs a nonprofit and was charged with espionage.
Iran did not immediately acknowledge the release and her case was not publicly known, as is sometimes the case with detentions in the Islamic Republic.
The U.S. strikes early Thursday hit around Tehran, state media reported. It also reported that American attacks targeted Semnan province, home to Iran’s ballistic missile production and space program.
Iranian media also reported strikes Thursday morning around the provinces of Hamedan, Hormozgan, Khuzestan, Lorestan, Markazi, and Sistan and Baluchistan.
On Wednesday, the U.S. resumed striking Iran during daylight, further showing the increasing tempo of the attacks. An attack on Greater Tunb Island, a strategic point in the Strait of Hormuz, targeted Iranian defense and missile sites, Central Command said.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military said it opened fire on the Curacao-flagged oil tanker Belma sailing toward Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export terminal in the Persian Gulf. After the ship “ignored multiple warnings,” a U.S. aircraft disabled the merchant vessel by firing a missile into the ship’s smokestack.
Another American strike Wednesday targeted a barracks for Iran’s 388th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, which operates tanks and armored vehicles, in Sistan and Baluchestan province, Iranian state television reported. The report said Americans fired at least 13 missiles in the attack and the seven dead included conscripts and career soldiers. A number of troops were wounded.
Iran retaliated Thursday with missile and drone attacks on Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait, authorities in those countries home to U.S. forces said. There was no immediate acknowledgment of damage or casualties from the attacks.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi condemned an overnight drone attack on the city of Irbil in Iraq’s semiautonomous northern Kurdish region. The drone, which authorities said had been intercepted, came during his trip to the U.S. in which he said Iraq would work to disarm non-state armed groups, including those backed by Iran.
The latest round of fighting is focused on the Strait of Hormuz. How to reopen the strait has bedeviled the U.S. since Iran choked it off in the early days of the war.
During the interim deal, some ships began moving through the passage using a route near Oman overseen by the U.S. military that is outside Tehran’s control.
In recent days, Iran attacked ships using that route and back-and-forth attacks ensued. The U.S. has threatened to reopen the strait by force, but experts say that would require a much bigger armada if not tens of thousands of ground troops. Imposing the blockade is another way to put pressure on Iran.
But in the meantime, oil prices are rising. The price for Brent crude oil, the international standard, traded above $85 a barrel on Thursday, more than 15% higher than the price before the war, but still well below the nearly $120 reached at the height of the conflict.
A billboard depicting U.S. President Donald Trump lying on what appears to be a coffin and bearing anti-Trump messages, including the phrase "We Kill Trump," is seen at Islamic Revolution Square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Three boys play in the shallow waters of the Strait of Hormuz, as a plume of smoke rises from an explosion in the background, off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, July 13, 2026. (Razieh Poudat/ISNA via AP)
