Electra picks Atlas Group to build EL9 test airframes

Electra, a Virginia-based startup developing an ultra-short takeoff and landing hybrid-electric aircraft, said on September 15, 2026 that it has picked Atlas Group to manufacture and assemble airframes for its flight test and certification program.

Atlas Group is based in Wichita, Kansas, and calls itself a vertically integrated industrial firm that supplies engineering and advanced manufacturing work to aerospace and defense customers.

Electra said in a press release that the arrangement reduces industrial risk on the EL9's route to certification by drawing on Atlas' aerostructures experience. The agreement appears to cover only a limited number of EL9 airframes for testing and certification. Electra plans to build the EL9 in series later at its own facility in Springfield, Ohio.

The two companies said they will work closely to mature the EL9 production architecture and establish the industrial base needed to raise output after certification. Work on the test airframes begins immediately, and Electra said the first could be delivered as early as the first quarter of 2027.

Electra has flown a smaller demonstrator, the two-seat EL2 Goldfinch, since 2023. The EL9 is designed to carry nine passengers plus one or two pilots.