The U.S. Department of Defense is deepening its relationship with Joby Aviation, an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft company.Joby said Wednesday it is expanding its existing contract with the U.S. Air Force’s Agility Prime program, an Air Force initiative launched in April 2020 to test, test and generally accelerate the development of eVTOL for cross commercial and military uses.
Joby’s DoD contract will now include a defense partnership with the U.S. Marine Corps, which will test Joby’s eVTOLs in non-combat use cases such as resupply, personnel transfer and emergency medical response, said Joby Executive Chairman Paul Sciarra.
The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps have all identified eVTOLs as a key area of interest for a number of reasons. eVTOLs promise to reduce noise – which is better for stealth operations – while also reducing operational costs and bringing potential mission and operational flexibility.
Sciarra said many within the U.S. Department of Defense may be surprised by the overall footprint of eVTOL development, and that replacing jet-fuel-burning vehicles with electric aircraft could be a solution to a range of problems in the military mission area. But perhaps most importantly, the DoD’s mission is to be at the forefront of next-generation aviation technology and to have a say in its development – especially as eVTOL becomes another competitive geopolitical frontier for the United States to explore.
In fact, just last week, the White House held a summit on advanced air mobility. Among other topics, leaders in the field spoke about the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Coordination and Leadership Act, which is currently under consideration in Congress. The bill directs the Department of Transportation to establish an AAM interagency working group to plan and coordinate the U.S. air ecosystem.
From Joby’s perspective, this expansion brings the total potential value of the contract to more than $75 million. While the money is not yet listed on Joby’s balance sheet, the partnership brings the company access to military test facilities and provides government partners with the opportunity to provide some assistance in paying for advanced testing and required development costs.
Sciarra said, “We all hope this will be in time to get real electric aircraft in the field for more significant deployments with the military.” But it’s a building block to make sure [the DoD] understands what [eVTOL] can do and how they can best use it.”
Sciarra also mentioned that the DoD has a different certification process than the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which could give Joby an opportunity to get the vehicle into service sooner on the government side than on the consumer side.
In May of this year, Joby received the necessary certification from the FAA to begin on-demand commercial air cab operations.
