Joby Aviation flies autonomous hybrid VTOL for defence for the 1st time
November 14, 2025
Joby Aviation has completed the first flight of its autonomous hybrid VTOL aircraft, just three months after announcing the aircraft concept. The aircraft flew from Joby’s facility in Marina, California, on 7 November, but was revealed by the company just yesterday.
Joby develops a hybrid VTOL for defence
As part of its partnership with L3Harris, Joby took its turbine-electric, autonomous VTOL aircraft for a test flight. The aircraft is a demonstrator based on Joby’s eVTOL air taxi, and could serve defence, civilian, and commercial roles.
The base eVTOL aircraft has completed over 50,000 miles of flight testing and is in the final stage of the FAA’s Type Certification process for commercial aircraft.
The hybrid aircraft is intended to be dual-use for both military and civil operators. JoeBen Bevirt, CEO and Founder of Joby, stated it is “imperative” to find ways to bring new technology to US troops more quickly and more cost-efficiently.
Electric roots. Hybrid reach. Autonomous future.
— Joby Aviation (@jobyaviation) November 13, 2025
We’re announcing the first flight of our turbine-electric demonstrator, just three months after we first announced the concept.
🌍 Hybrid and autonomous technologies unlock a range of potential opportunities, from longer air… pic.twitter.com/ZufePAbXY0
Bevirt added that dual-use technology “creates value in both directions.” He said that developing military versions of the air taxi will “…help pave the way for commercial applications, from longer-range hybrid VTOL missions to autonomous air operations in commercial airspace.”
Making the Joby eVTOL into a military aircraft
The demonstrator integrates a hybrid turbine powertrain with its SuperPilot autonomy stack. This enables the aircraft to have a greater range and payload capabilities, although Joby did not state what those ranges and payloads will be.
L3Harris is a major defence contractor that provides many of the advanced electronic suites in modern military aircraft. For Joby’s autonomous drone, it is providing sensors, effectors, communication, and collaborative autonomy for the Joby aircraft.
In a statement, L3Harris stated, “The future battlefield relies on unmanned systems augmenting manned platforms.” It added that its partnership with Joby accelerates the development of VTOL aircraft to suit defence requirements. The company said its focus is now “scaling rapidly to bring these commercial VTOL aircraft to the fight.”
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Joining a growing chorus of hybrid VTOL aircraft
The US government has made acquiring hybrid and autonomous aircraft a priority. The FY 2026 budget includes over $9 billion for these next-generation platforms.
L3 Harris is planning to modify Joby’s commercial eVTOL air taxi into a hybrid aircraft for defence missions. including in contested environments. Intended missions include cargo transport with contested logistic environments, “loyal wingman” operations, and low-altitude support roles.
In future peer-on-peer wars, runways are seen to be vulnerable. Wargame modelling of a surprise attack on US bases by China as a part of an invasion of Taiwan consistently shows the US losing hundreds of aircraft on the ground. Comparatively few are shot down.
The US is racing for options to become runway-independent. In August 2025, rival Archer took a major step in becoming a US defence contractor with its hybrid VTOL aircraft. In October, Beta Technologies unveiled the MV250, which is a hybrid military version of its ALIA A250 eVTOL aircraft.
The list of autonomous runway-independent logistical aircraft is growing fast. Also in October, Lockheed unveiled an autonomous version of the Black Hawk helicopter with clamshell doors.
Just weeks ago, Shield AI unveiled a very ambitious concept to develop a VTOL autonomous ‘fighter jet.’
Featured Image: Joby Aviation
