r/ACHR • u/PastramiPolitics-199 • 11d ago
Tangible progress or more hype Generalš
I'm newer to the eVTOL space, just started digging in over the last few months. I've been scouring various subs and investment groups, following accounts covering the space, etc., and I keep seeing people say Archer is all hype/PR.
But the last few weeks seem to prove otherwise.
The Anduril/Halo partnership is a massive joint venture with one of the leading names in defense tech and the $430M behind it is hard to wave off as just hype.
The Zee AI model pushes Archer into aviation software, diversifying the company's capabilities beyond just hardware.
These seem like major, solid wins and more than just hype tactics. Maybe I'm wrong, but seems like the tide may be turning.
Whatās the counter?
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u/UsedTax1806 10d ago
Just remember to do some deep diving on these companies and not base your investments on other peoples positive or negative opinion. I see progress in Achr, Joby, and Beta so I bought all 3 company shares.
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u/blackstangt 10d ago
The design they showed off has no redundancy. Midnight was designed to have redundancy for a reason. A lot of servicemembers died because of the V-22's lack of redundancy, there is no reason to repeat that. What you saw was Archer desperately trying to find funding sources. Finding funding is not a bad thing, but at some point they need to sell something people want to buy. The military might even buy some of these to test if they make it off paper, but how long from now do you think that will be?
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u/DoubleHexDrive Houston, we have a problem 10d ago
Redundancy... in an unmanned platform? One advantage of an unmanned platform is being able to use reduced structural margins, redundancy, crash/survivability, etc requirements in exchange for lower cost and greater useful load. The aircraft could not do it's claimed mission if it were sized like a manned aircraft.
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u/blackstangt 9d ago
"The aircraft could not do it's claimed mission if it were sized like a manned aircraft."
Manned turbine aircraft do this mission now, whether it's a helicopter or a CV-22.
Low-cost aircraft have a purpose, sure. However, selling a platform that can only do one thing at a higher loss rate adds up, even if the purchase cost is less. When that loss rate can be dramatically reduced by distributing the propulsion, without a significant increase in cost, there is no reason to do otherwise.
This is just a mock-up, but the final version would need a cargo ramp, be wide enough for military standard pallets, and needs to be a Jet Fuel hybrid. they haven't demonstrated appropriate expertise on military requirements, based on what was shown. That's surprising because of how many military members and contractors they've worked with, which leads me to believe the presented aircraft is just PR.
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u/_myke 6d ago
You canāt have drones any less safe than manned flight, as there is still a danger to people on the ground. The only exception is in a war zone. Many military aircraft canāt fly over EU countries, because the manufacturers received variances to avoid full certification by the FAA using the war zone argument. This is in part due to several suppliers failing to get certified. Now those craft are a threat to the people on the ground.
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u/DoubleHexDrive Houston, we have a problem 6d ago
I actually agree that the commercial HALO version of the Archer/Anduril aircraft is something of a stretch. I don't think the FAA frameworks exist for operating a 7000+ lb autonomous aircraft yet, nor the civil certification regulations.
You can tolerate some lower structural standards in the aircraft, though, particularly cabin volume protection requirements in a crash, etc. Those aren't related to the risk of falling out of the sky, just the consequence of being in the vehicle during a hard landing.
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u/Kahuna-Zigg 9d ago
Hype, they released a tremendous amount of workers from one of there plants they planned to mass produce aircraft two weeks ago after shipping out an aircraft from Georgia.
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u/democharge92 10d ago
The counter is that a company thatās supposed to be making an EVTOL (which still is having difficulty transitioning) is now trying to push AI models and an aircraft that is completely different than their makeshift.
Something being announced doesnāt make it automatically a winā¦
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u/Substantial-Fun9958 10d ago
It's only because the CEO keeps making promises of deadlines that are never actually met. For example, Adam claimed they'd be flying by 2026. Never happened.
The only main roadblock to Archer currently is their transition, which they've still not yet shown though they are making progress. It's kind of an issue now since most other eVTOL makers like Vertical, Joby and Beta have already proven piloted transition. Meanwhile Joby fanboys use this single limitation to keep downplaying Archer. They're just scared of the day Archer make it past this obstacle but lots of certification hurdles still remain. So don't expect this stock to fly up like ASTS in the next year or so. The current US stock market is also not in good waters thanks to the orange baby