"The demonstrator aircraft builds on Joby's all-electric air taxi platform and integrates a hybrid turbine powertrain with the company's Superpilot autonomy stack to deliver greater range and payload capability. Joby announced it is exploring opportunities to develop a new aircraft class for defense application with L3Harris Technologies back in August. The gas turbine hybrid vertical take-off and landing, or VTOL, aircraft is designed for low-altitude missions and can either be crewed or fully autonomous."
"L3Harris Technologies brings expertise on platform missionization, including sensors, effectors, communication and collaborative autonomy. L3Harris plans to equip Joby's commercial hybrid aircraft to address defense applications, such as contested logistics, loyal wingman operations and low-altitude support. The U.S. government has prioritized the acquisition of resilient, autonomous and hybrid aircraft, requesting over $9 billion in the FY26 budget for next-generation platforms."
Joby completed the first flight of a turbine-electric, autonomous VTOL demonstrator at its Marina facility and will continue ground and flight testing ahead of operational demonstrations with government customers planned for 2026. The demonstrator integrates a hybrid turbine powertrain with Joby's Superpilot autonomy stack to increase range and payload over all-electric air taxi configurations. The hybrid VTOL can operate crewed or fully autonomous on low-altitude missions. L3Harris brings platform missionization expertise—sensors, effectors, communications and collaborative autonomy—to equip the aircraft for contested logistics, loyal wingman roles and low-altitude support. The U.S. budget request seeks over $9 billion for resilient, autonomous hybrid next-generation platforms.
Read at www.montereyherald.com
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