Joby and L3Harris to Pursue Development of New Aircraft Class for Defense Applications
Joby and L3Harris will pursue defense applications for autonomous hybrid VTOL aircraft.
(Santa Cruz, California & Melbourne, Florida) Joby Aviation (NYSE: JOBY) and L3Harris (NYSE: LHX) announced this morning (Aug. 1) that they are exploring opportunities to develop a new aircraft class for defense applications – specifically, an optionally-piloted gas turbine hybrid vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft designed for low-altitude missions.
Photo courtesy of Joby Aviation.
Flight testing is expected to begin this fall, and operational demonstrations during government exercises are anticipated to begin in 2026, according to this morning’s press release from Joby.
Joby’s press release highlights the importance of the collaboration leveraging Joby’s existing commercial aircraft manufacturing development program and L3Harris’ expertise in platform miss ionization, including sensors, effectors, communication and collaborative autonomy.
“The next-generation of vertical lift technology enables long-range, crewed-uncrewed teaming for a range of missions,” said Jon Rambeau, President, Integrated Mission Systems, L3Harris. “We share a vision with Joby to deliver urgently-required innovation by missionizing VTOL aircraft for defense needs.”
Joby Aviation Founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt said: “We have worked closely with the Department of Defense over the past decade to give them a front row seat to the development of our dual-purpose technologies, and we’re now ready to demonstrate and deploy it. Our country depends on companies like ours moving at pace, and we have the team, the technology and the platform to do just that.”
Joby is actively developing a gas turbine hybrid powertrain for its current S4 aircraft platform and has demonstrated aircraft-level autonomy following its acquisition of the autonomy division of Xwing in June 2024, according to the company.
In June of 2024, Joby demonstrated under government contract that its platform can be hybridized to deliver longer-ranges, with the company showcasing an industry-first 561 mile hydrogen-electric hybrid flight.
