NEWBORN focuses on realistic and commercially viable project outcomes significantly exceeding the Call topic Expected Outcomes. This is the only path to bring a real impact, well beyond paperwork and test rigs. With this in mind, the project applies the steppingstone principle and intends to bring aviation graded fuel cells into the market as soon as safely possible. This will generate operational data to support certification on CS-25 aircraft. It will further provide vital acceptance gap mitigation in the conservative air transport environment. The 18 multi-disciplinary partners, including 3 non-traditional aerospace partners and 2 SMEs, will work on 28 key enabling technologies. They will be matured and optimized to support an EIS of CS-23 aircraft by 2030 and regional aircraft by 2035. The ambition of the project is to achieve an overall propulsion system efficiency of 50% by 2026, calculated as a ratio of energy on the propeller shaft to the hydrogen lower heating value. This ambition greatly surpasses the expected outcome of the HPA-02 Call. Similarly, by the end of 2025, the project will demonstrate widely scalable fuel cell power source technology with a power density of >1.2 kW/kg and stack power density of >5 kW/kg. Technologies will be adaptable to different maximum flight altitudes of ≤ FL250 and ≤FL450, and scalable down to ~250kW and reusable for secondary power in SMR flying altitudes by 2026. An innovative cryogenic tank concept will be integrated, demonstrating a gravimetric index of 35% for the CS-23 aircraft and scalable up to 50% for regional aircraft. The project will also address high power density high voltage energy conversion, propulsion systems, and the next generation microtube heat exchangers, along with an accurate digital twin of the overall system. All together, NEWBORN will develop a technology demonstrator prepared for flight demonstration in Clean Aviation Phase 2.

ALRIGH2T responds in full to the “expected outcomes” and “scope” of the HORIZON-CL5-2023-D5-01-07 topic, by developing and demonstrating two alternative technologies for LH2 aircraft refuelling: - Direct LH2 refuelling, encompassing the definition of operational protocols for safe and rapid refuelling, the development and testing of a LH2 transfer pump and an instrumented tank, their integration in an iron bird laboratory for the execution of refuelling/defueling tests and the delivering of a digital twin model. - LH2 tanks swap refuelling, encompassing end-to-end logistic and supply chain of tank modules, the design of the associated on- and off-site infrastructure and its demonstration. Both concepts will achieve TRL 6 by the end of the project, undergoing a comprehensive technology evaluation informed by demonstration results in two major airports, i.e. Milan Malpensa and Paris (Orly or LeBourget) respectively. The two technology lines are complemented by transversal activities for the definition of technical and techno-economic boundary conditions, the demonstration of the use of H2 for ground operations (i.e. H2 powered tow vehicle, demonstrated at the Malpensa site) as well as environmental, safety and regulatory cross-cutting aspects. ALRIGH2T has the ambition of demonstrating, for the first time, LH2 refuelling in a scale compatible with airport operations, synergizing with the Clean Aviation research and development efforts at the aircraft level. The project is implemented by a consortium built on the competences of top European industrial players, positioned along entire hydrogen and aeronautic value chain, complemented by research and technology organisations and selected member of the Advisory Board, including the EASA. ALRIGH2T is expected to be a cornerstone in the path towards the deployment of LH2 as an aviation fuel, strengthening the European research and industry leadership and consolidating the role of green airports as hubs of the H2 economy

To enable a technologically and economically feasible H2-powered aviation, new integral LH2 tank solutions are required that could serve as part of the airframe main structure and capable of withstanding its respective loads. The H2ELIOS project will develop an innovative and effective lightweight LH2 storage system for aircraft. It will be implemented as demonstrators in two fuselage-like cylinder section with approximately 1.9 m of external diameter and approximately 2.3 m of external length. These demonstrators would be duly supported by component and subsystem ground tests at appropriate scale at project completion (TRL 5 at storage level). The aim is that the concept is ready to be embedded and integrated in a specified aircraft architecture for flight demonstration in later stages. H2ELIOS will provide a feasible and novel low-pressure double-layer composite tank-based system, enabling the tank shape to be either conformal or non-conformal to the profile of the aircraft. Its general effectiveness will be assessed in terms of high GI performance and easiness of integration within the aircraft structure. This concept will be supported by latest evolutions of innovative methods and technologies in terms of multidisciplinary design development, manufacturing processes and means of compliance and shall be demonstrated in operational conditions: first on ground up to TRL5 and then in flight by the end of Clean Aviation Phase 2 clearing a TRL6 maturation gate. Finally, delivery to the market is expected in the 2030-2035 period. In this way this project shall contribute to accomplish the objectives of the European Green Deal regarding decarbonization of the aviation industry. The activities of H2ELIOS will be supported by explicit agreed support of EASA and an External Advisory Board comprising commercial aircraft OEMs, H2 management and cryogenics experts, MRO services, airlines, aircraft system integrators, materials developers and suppliers and airports operation

The fLHYing tank project aims to flight-test a 1,000-liter flight-load-bearing vacuum-insulated composite LH2 tank in the Pipistrel Nuuva V300 cargo UAV. This project proposal is disruptive in several perspectives: (i) definition of requirements, design, manufacturing and qualification of a relevant-scale flight-load-bearing fully composite liquid hydrogen tank, (ii) accelerated acquisition of knowledge via flight-testing low-TRL hazardous technologies using UAVs, and (iii) effective application of the knowledge via calibration of a fluid-dynamic, thermal and structural digital twin of a composite LH2 tank using flight test data for advancement towards digitalized certification of aeronautical technologies. The fLHYing tank project covers the disruptive maturation of lightweight liquid hydrogen storage systems via the accelerated acquisition of knowledge on flight operation of LH2 tanks, as required by the demonstrator strategy of the Clean Aviation Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda. The main impact of the fLHYing tank project is the unprecedented reduction in the time-to-market of revolutionary technologies in the aeronautical industry, thanks to the ground-breaking fast-track flight testing of a relevant-scale composite LH2 storage system using a UAV, achieving comprehensive understanding of the behaviour of LH2 tanks in the flight environment within minimum timeframe, risk, and cost. This ambitious goal can be achieved within the 1st phase of the Clean Aviation Programme thanks to the fLHYing tank project.