Joby logs first flight of hybrid VTOL aircraft

Joby Aviation flew its autonomous hybrid electric vertical takeoff and landing demonstrator for the first time last week, the company announced today, completing the feat roughly three months after it initially revealed the aircraft’s concept.

The unmanned platform will be produced by Joby primarily for commercial applications, but a militarized version -- equipped for contested logistics, teaming operations with manned aircraft and low-altitude support -- will also be available through an agreement with L3Harris. The two firms are planning to begin government mission flight demonstrations using the hybrid VTOL aircraft in 2026, Joby said in a news release.

“It’s imperative that we find ways to deliver new technology into the hands of American troops more quickly and cost-efficiently than we have in the past,” JoeBen Bevirt, Joby founder and CEO, said in a statement. “Our vertical integration puts us in a unique position to deliver on this goal, moving from concept to demonstration -- and from demonstration to deployment -- at a pace that is unprecedented in today’s aerospace and defense industry.”

The demonstrator first flew on Nov. 7 at Joby’s Marina, CA facility using the company’s autonomy stack, dubbed SuperPilot. It also integrates a gas turbine powertrain into Joby’s all-electric air taxi platform. These add-on capabilities allow the demonstrator aircraft to fly with a greater range and payload capacity, Joby said in the news release.

Joby previously collaborated with the Air Force via the AFWERX Agility Prime program on its fully electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft for autonomous cargo missions. Most recently, Joby in July participated in the Air Force’s large-scale REFORPAC exercise in the Indo-Pacific, logging more than 7,000 miles of unmanned missions across over 40 flight hours, according to the news release.