From Clean Sheet to Flight in 5 Years: How STC helped JetZero Accelerate Aerospace Innovation with MBSE

Company: JetZero

Headquarters: Long Beach, CA

Industry: Aerospace manufacturer

STC SERVICES UTILIZED: MBSE services, digital engineering consulting services, software and infrastructure support

INTRODUCTION

For more than half a century, the shape of commercial aircraft has remained largely unchanged. Today’s airliners follow the same “tube-and-wing” architecture pioneered in the 1950s. JetZero, an aerospace startup, is rewriting that playbook with the JetZero Demonstrator: a full-scale blended wing body (BWB) aircraft designed to deliver 30% greater aerodynamic efficiency than traditional airframe designs, which will deliver up to 50% reduced fuel burn per passenger mile. Backed by a $235 million U.S. Air Force investment, the Demonstrator is targeting first flight in 2027—a pace nearly unheard of in modern aviation.

JetZero identified model-based systems engineering (MBSE) as a critical enabler for achieving a highly cohesive, integrated design that could be delivered at speed. To jumpstart systems engineering on the program, JetZero sought a skilled and experienced engineering partner to produce these results. They found the right partner in Strategic Technology Consulting (STC), an Arcfield company. STC provides tailored MBSE services, digital engineering support and AI-enhanced tools that replace archaic document-heavy workflows with dynamic, data-driven models. These models serve as a central authoritative source of truth for complex engineering programs and provide traceability across specialty engineering domains and trace up to high-level system requirements.

Because JetZero was starting from a clean sheet design, they needed an engineering partner capable of creating a strategic MBSE foundation from the ground up. STC was chosen for its deep hands-on experience in federating complex system models as well as its reputation as a center of gravity for MBSE talent. Together, the teams built a digital backbone for the Demonstrator program: a dynamic, model-based ecosystem that connects every subsystem into one cohesive whole.

By integrating MBSE from the start, JetZero can visualize subsystem interactions, assess downstream impacts in real time and trace every engineering decision back to stakeholder and operational requirements. This digital foundation is also instrumental in preparing for critical design review (CDR), ensuring design maturity, validating system performance and reducing program risk ahead of key milestones. Ultimately, this approach enables JetZero to design, build and test a revolutionary new aircraft on an accelerated timeline—supporting its path toward key program milestones, on time and within budget.

JETZERO'S CHALLENGE AND CLEAN SHEET OPPORTUNITY

When JetZero first initiated the Demonstrator program, it was recognized that building a full-scale BWB aircraft using traditional approaches was unlikely to be achievable within current time and resource constraints. As a startup tasked with a clean-sheet design, JetZero had both a rare advantage and a significant challenge: MBSE was not an add-on to the program. It was foundational to their development methodology. It transformed how engineers collaborate by creating a unified, model-driven approach to guide design trades, analysis and decision-making across the platform.

STC’s MBSE experience and expertise—combined with JetZero’s aerospace engineering team—delivered a full digital design of the Demonstrator platform with complete traceability to operational and integration requirements. This model-based approach empowers program leaders to make informed, timely decisions. Because their vision demanded a partner who could architect, deploy and operationalize MBSE at scale, JetZero turned to STC, whose engineers specialize in developing highly formalized models that connect every system, stakeholder and decision.

Working alongside JetZero, STC delivered best practices, developed custom profiles and leveraged Cameo System Modeler’s meta-chaining capability to demonstrate how a unified architecture elevates performance, streamlines workflows and brings engineering teams together.

For JetZero, the Demonstrator is more than a test; it’s the benchmark for how next-generation engineering can work. By pairing a clean-sheet aircraft with a modern MBSE foundation, JetZero is living in the end-state that traditional OEMs are still striving to reach: one in which design, analysis, simulation and testing flow seamlessly within a single digital ecosystem.

STC'S SUPPORT AND IMPACT

Today, STC supports JetZero in four key areas:

1. ACCELERATING INNOVATION FROM FUNDING TO FLIGHT

   JetZero’s ability to design, build and prepare a full-scale BWB aircraft for flight within an unprecedented five years is made possible by establishing MBSE as the operational core of their engineering strategy. With STC providing hands-on modeling and training, the Demonstrator team developed a more cohesive digital thread, one that reveals gaps in the architecture, strengthens subject matter expert understanding and aligns previously siloed engineering teams around a unified system view. The MBSE models enable engineers to identify conflicts and risks earlier than ever, ensuring that potential costly issues are resolved well before physical testing. On a program where every month of delay can cost millions, that foresight translates to saved time, saved money, reduced rework and higher confidence at every milestone.

   
   

2. DELIVERING THE CDR ON TIME AND UNDER BUDGET

   The CDR for Demonstrator marked a pivotal validation point. Using the MBSE environment co-developed with STC, JetZero presented a comprehensive, traceable digital package linking requirements, analyses and verification data within a single model. This integration dramatically reduced CDR prep time and minimized the generation of manual artifacts—replacing thousands of static documents with interactive model navigation for design logic, dependencies and test coverage.

   
   

3. EMPOWERING A LEAN TEAM TO OPERATE WITH SCALE AND EFFICIENCY

   Although JetZero’s team is smaller than those of legacy aerospace manufacturers, MBSE has enabled it to operate at enterprise scale. The Demonstrator program established a repeatable MBSE playbook extendable to future aircraft, including commercial and military variants. Its digital thread will ultimately connect design, production and operations data—forming a true digital twin capable of delivering predictive insights into performance, maintenance and mission readiness.

   
   

4. SHAPING THE FUTURE OF AEROSPACE ENGINEERING

   JetZero’s partnership with STC demonstrates what’s possible when a greenfield design program embraces MBSE from day one. The collaboration also reflects a larger industry shift. The U.S. Department of War has made MBSE a national priority to accelerate innovation and reduce lifecycle costs across programs. STC is leading this transition and ‘discipline maturation’, delivering immediate value at scale.

Together, these improvements created a strong architectural foundation that enables rigorous trade studies, traceable performance metrics and faster, more confident decision-making.

The JetZero Demonstrator proves that the future of aerospace doesn’t only rely on new materials or propulsion systems; it needs new ways of engineering. By defining MBSE as the heart of the design process, JetZero has shown how a small, agile team can move fast and with greater precision. With STC as its MBSE partner, JetZero built a digital nervous system for the Demonstrator design that unites every discipline, captures every decision, and accelerates progress from concept to flight. Their success shows what happens when innovation meets integration—a faster, smarter, more connected approach to aircraft development that’s redefining how the next generation of aircraft (and engineers) take shape.

ABOUT JETZERO

JetZero, co-founded by aerospace legend Mark Page, is developing the world’s first commercial blended wing body airplane. Working alongside the Air Force, NASA and the FAA, and backed by decades of investment and research, JetZero seeks to enter commercial service in 2030. Learn more at jetzero.aero.

ABOUT STC

STC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Arcfield, is an innovative systems engineering company that leverages advanced digital tools and practices to design and field sustainable, reliable systems more effectively and efficiently.

Learn more at stc.arcfield.com.