Washington: Joby Aviation, a startup known for all-electric air taxis, announced that the company will partner with defence firm L3Harris to pitch a new, gas turbine hybrid vertical takeoff and landing aircraft for military customers.
The currently-unnamed platform will consist of Joby’s existing all-electric S4 aircraft but modified to include a gas turbine hybrid powertrain. L3Harris will missionize the optionally-piloted aircraft with features like sensors, payloads, effectors and collaborative autonomy and will market it to military customers, Joby Executive Chairman Paul Sciarra said.
The US military is on the hunt for platforms that can operate in austere environments like the Indo-Pacific, where runways are sparse and potential threats from adversaries like China are severe. The S4 can takeoff and land vertically like a helicopter but rotate its propellers to fly like an airplane.
Sciarra said Joby can produce the aircraft using its existing footprint, leveraging an expanding facility in Marina, California as well as a planned factory in Dayton, Ohio. Reasoning that the aircraft fills a “pretty big capability gap” at low altitudes for carrying “medium payloads” of roughly 1,000 to 2,000 pounds, Sciarra said the platform will be “significantly cheaper than a $30 million [AH-64] Apache.”
Joby plans to begin flight testing the new aircraft as soon as this fall. The Joby and L3Harris team then aims to join government exercises in 2026. Pointing to established supply chains and manufacturing prowess, Sciarra said the aircraft will be “ready to go from customer demonstration to deployability as fast as the customer is ready.”
