Joby Aviation, Inc. (NYSE: JOBY) today announced that the U.S. Air Force has awarded additional funding to accelerate Joby’s autonomous flight technology, bringing the Air Force’s total commitment to nearly $37 million and raising the ceiling on Joby’s operational testing contract to $50 million.
Awarded through AFWERX, the innovation arm of the U.S. Air Force, the funding supports continued development of Joby’s autonomy software and expanded operational testing in the Pacific, as the Air Force moves toward sustained autonomous logistics operations.This milestone builds on Joby’s long-standing partnership with AFWERX and reflects continued Air Force momentum behind Joby’s autonomous flight platform. It also supports Joby’s broader dual-use mission: bringing autonomous logistics and cargo capabilities to defense, emergency response, and commercial operations.
First-Ever Autonomous Flight Across the United States
The contract expansion builds on the completion of Joby’s own nationwide J208 cross-country flights, part of Joby’s 2026 Electric Skies campaign. In the first-ever autonomous flight across the United States, Joby’s autonomy system flew a Cessna Caravan equipped with its technology from Concord, California to North Carolina’s Outer Banks, with zero control inputs from its onboard safety pilot. Across the multi-leg tour spanning 24 states, Joby demonstrated fully autonomous taxiing, takeoffs, route navigation, and landings under remote supervision from up to 2,537 miles away.
Proven Dual-Use Capabilities
Designed to safely support autonomous flight in both civilian skies and contested military environments, Joby’s dual-use technology integrates advanced sensors, onboard computing, and automated flight controls. A ground-based operator monitors the flight, and maintains the ability to update routes and communicate with air traffic control in real time. Building on the mature autonomy stack acquired from Xwing in 2024, the system has already completed more than 400 fully autonomous flights to date. This foundation is expected to be further expanded through Joby’s planned acquisition of Resonant Sciences, which is expected to close early in 2027, accelerating the company’s defense capabilities.
The system’s tactical readiness was highlighted during a landmark deployment across the Pacific during the military’s REFORPAC exercises in August 2025, where the aircraft in Hawaii was operated remotely from Guam, nearly 4,000 miles away. The system was also proven during Air Force readiness exercise Agile Flag, where it delivered critical replacement parts 24 hours faster than conventional logistics. The newly awarded contracts will focus on executing follow-on Pacific military exercises.
Building on that momentum, these additions support ongoing design updates and safety reviews to extend the operational capabilities of Joby’s autonomy stack. The milestone deepens Joby’s multi-year partnership with AFWERX and advances the company’s dual-use strategy for logistics and cargo operations.
“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.
Known primarily for its piloted electric air taxi, Joby is expanding its capabilities as a next-generation aviation company. The company’s platform-agnostic autonomy stack builds on this innovation, supporting dual-use defense logistics, cargo operations, and emergency response.
Joby’s autonomous J208 operations are also part of the White House-backed eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP) initiatives in Utah and North Carolina. In North Carolina, tour flights supported NCDOT’s eLIFT-NC initiative for statewide healthcare logistics, while western flights contributed to UDOT’s multi-state uFLY coalition to evaluate high-altitude, extreme-environment airspace integration for the FAA. In these regions, the aircraft will help establish autonomous routes to move critical cargo, medical supplies, and logistics shipments, generating vital operational data to inform the FAA’s evolving regulatory frameworks for autonomous flight.
