News

AltoVolo Releases Sigma Footage & Sets Date For Demonstrator

AltoVolo has released prototype flight footage and says it has completed a preliminary design review, with a full-scale demonstrator due by end-2026.

Published

5 months ago

May 4, 2026

Nour Nasir

AltoVolo

AltoVolo released flight footage of its Sigma prototype aircraft today and said it has completed preliminary design work, with a full-scale demonstrator targeted for completion by the end of 2026.

The two-seat hybrid-electric aircraft uses a tilting open-rotor propulsion system. AltoVolo calls the configuration HyperTOL — short for Hybrid Performance Takeoff and Landing.

The company said the preliminary design review is now complete, production aircraft details have been locked, and work has moved into detailed engineering and certification. The full-scale demonstrator is intended to support a manufacturing readiness review, though AltoVolo has not disclosed a build location or capital requirement for that phase.

AltoVolo also revealed that it has appointed a Head of Certification, and said the company has recruited aerospace personnel with experience on complex aircraft programs. AltoVolo says it is targeting full type certification and is engaging with certification requirements as the design moves into detailed engineering.

The Sigma’s open-rotor design has replaced an earlier electric ducted fan configuration following a study of performance, certification, and commercialization factors. The change is said to double hover time. Performance figures cited include a 165 mph cruise speed, 220 mph top speed, 500-mile hybrid range, 250-mile electric-only range, 45-minute hover endurance, 270 kg payload, and a maximum takeoff weight of 980 kg. Estimated takeoff noise runs between 65 and 70 dB(A) at 100 meters.

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AltoVolo noted that Sport Pilot certificate holders should be able to operate the Sigma with 25 hours of training, largely limited to fair-weather and daylight conditions. According to the company, license restriction has partly driven the two-seat rather than three-seat configuration.

The company’s funding round remains open; terms and investor details were not disclosed. AltoVolo said it plans to announce exhibition appearances in the coming weeks but gave no dates or locations.

Founder Will Wood previously led design at an unnamed US eVTOL startup in 2024. The company also cites earlier work supporting Aston Martin, Ferrari, and autonomous vehicle firm Wayve.

News

Microsoft Plans $10 Billion-Plus Gulf Expansion Despite Iran Conflict

Security is shaping Microsoft’s approach, from resilience work with governments to what it will say about how the money splits by country.

Published

2 days ago

September 24, 2026

Nour Nasir

Microsoft

Microsoft is planning more than $10 billion of investment across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait through 2030, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters, calling the spending schedule aggressive. The Iranian conflict that began on February 28 has not persuaded the company to scale back.

“We’re sustaining all the investments we planned to make before this conflict started, and we are in fact adding to them,” Smith said. The $10 billion-plus total does not, however, show how large those additions are.

The investment, which Smith described as part of Microsoft’s continued infrastructure expansion, is aimed at cloud and AI infrastructure and at the company’s growing regional operations. Microsoft also intends to put more than $400 million into subsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030.

The spending fits the region’s own ambitions too. Gulf governments have been investing heavily in AI infrastructure as part of a push to diversify their economies beyond oil and gas and turn themselves into global technology hubs. Major cloud and AI providers have been drawn in part by the land and relatively low-cost energy on offer.

Microsoft is widening its partnerships with regional AI companies, though not on identical terms. In 2024, it invested $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi-based G42 for a minority stake, and Smith currently sits on G42’s board. Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Qatar’s Qai are working with Microsoft on selected priority areas, but Smith said the company does not plan to make capital investments in either.

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The conflict has added another strand to Microsoft’s work in the region. Since it began, Smith said, the company has supported regional partners with digital resilience assessments, and it is now working with Gulf countries through a digital resilience initiative focused on preparedness and the protection of critical data.

So far, the company has given no country-by-country breakdown of the investment, citing security among other factors. So while the headline figure is public, how Microsoft divides the spending among the four countries is not.