Image credit: Joby Aviation
Santa Cruz’s Joby Aviation (NYSE: JOBY) has received additional U.S. Air Force funding for its autonomous flight technology, bringing the Air Force’s total commitment to nearly $37 million and raising the ceiling on its operational testing contract to $50 million. The funding, awarded through AFWERX, the Air Force’s innovation arm, will support continued autonomy software development and expanded testing in the Pacific.
The news follows Joby’s record-setting coast-to-coast tour, part of its 2026 Electric Skies campaign. Joby’s autonomy system flew a modified Cessna Caravan from Concord, California to North Carolina’s Outer Banks with zero control inputs from its onboard safety pilot. The multi-leg trip covered 24 states, with autonomous taxiing, takeoffs, navigation, and landings supervised remotely from as far as 2,537 miles away.
Built on technology acquired from Xwing in 2024, the system has now completed more than 400 fully autonomous flights. It has also proven itself in military exercises, including a 2025 Pacific deployment where an aircraft in Hawaii was operated from Guam, nearly 4,000 miles away, and an Agile Flag exercise where it delivered replacement parts 24 hours faster than conventional logistics. Joby’s planned acquisition of Resonant Sciences, expected to close in early 2027, should further boost its defense capabilities.
“This contract expansion is a powerful validation of the adaptability of Joby’s autonomy stack,” said JoeBen Bevirt, Founder and CEO of Joby Aviation. “We designed this system to be platform-agnostic, letting us quickly bring advanced autonomy to a wide range of high-utility aircraft. This funding will accelerate our path to sustained uncrewed operations, delivering a single software solution that solves critical logistics challenges for both the U.S. military and cargo industries.”
“AFWERX is supporting the development and evaluation of autonomous airlift technologies to strengthen Air Force logistics resilience. Our goal is to sustain cargo operations in contested environments while reducing risk to aircrews and preserving crewed aircraft for missions that require them,” said Kate Brown, Contested Logistics Tactical Airlift Lead, AFWERX.
Beyond defense, Joby’s autonomous flights are part of the White House-backed eVTOL Integration Pilot Program in Utah and North Carolina, helping establish routes for medical supplies and cargo while generating data to shape future FAA rules for autonomous flight.
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