We are extremely satisfied that LA LÍNEA VERTICAL has been the company chosen by the Advanced Center for Aerospace Technologies (CATEC) for the rescue and firefighting tasks of ATLAS, the experimental flight aerodrome located in Villacarrillo (Jaén).
CATEC is a technological center established in 2008 by the Andalusian Foundation for Aerospace Development (FADA), based in Aerópolis, the Aerospace Technology Park of Andalusia in La Rinconada (Seville), the only business space in Europe exclusively for the aerospace sector.
CATEC–FADA manages in Villacarrillo (Jaén) the ATLAS Experimental Flight Center, acronym for Air Trafic Laboratory for Advanced unmanned Systems, which offers the international aeronautical community an aerodrome equipped with excellent facilities and an ideal airspace for the realization of flight tests with unmanned aircraft systems (UAS / RPAS).
Strategic project for the Andalusian aerospace sector
The ATLAS Center constitutes the first facilities in Spain dedicated entirely to the experimentation of technologies and systems of UAS (Unmanned Aircraft System) or remotely controlled systems RPAS (Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems) of light or tactical type.
These facilities are pioneering and unique infrastructures in Europe, being the first ones designed and created specifically to be used as a research and validation center for this type of aircrafts, an area that is considered one of the largest worldwide projection within the international aerospace industry.
ATLAS is the first European centre with all the means, personnel and knowledge required to carry out the flight tests that will be necessary to obtain the CE marking from 2023.
It is, therefore, a strategic project for the Andalusian and Spanish aerospace sector, which allows it to be placed at the forefront in one of the subsectors that is most focused on the research and development of new technologies, both military and civilian, at an international level.
The German company Lilium, also in ATLAS
The German company Lilium has been the last one to settle in ATLAS to carry out flight tests of its PHX2 technology demonstrator. It takes advantage of the possibilities of the aerodrome to be able to carry out flights at greater distances and speeds than they could do in Germany, where they have carried out their tests until now.
Lilium is betting on developing an electric jet for seven passengers and urban air mobility, compared to most designs of eVTOL, electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft that usually incorporate propellers.
In addition to these air taxis, Lilium plans to build vertiports (airports for eVTOLs) in various countries, from where their Lilium Jet would fly and where their batteries would be recharged. For the construction and operation of these it has signed an agreement with the Spanish Ferrovial Airports, while Aciturri will build a large part of the aircraft.
The German company has on its board of directors Tom Enders, former chairman of Airbus and EADS, and David Neeleman, founder of several airlines in the United States and Brazil, such as JetBlue and Azul, respectively.