An electric air taxi by Joby Aviation sits at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport in New York City, Nov. 12, 2023.
Joby Aviation and defense manufacturing giant L3Harris announced a partnership Friday to develop a next-generation military craft that can be piloted or fly autonomously.
The partnership brings together Joby's hybrid vertical take-off and landing, or VTOL, aircraft and L3's expertise in military systems and certification.
The companies expect to begin testing this fall, followed by operational demonstrations in 2026, according to the release.
"Conflicts like Russia, Ukraine, are really changing how people think about, you know, low altitude aviation generally," Joby executive chairman Paul Sciarra told CNBC's Morgan Brennan. "Getting something out there that can move very quickly from demonstration to deployability felt especially important."
Jon Rambeau, president of Integrated Mission Systems at L3Harris, said initially the project will focus on use cases like airborne surveillance, reconnaissance and contested logistics applications.
"We're going to target ... the broader government exercises that the military services hold periodically, and see if we can fit some of those use cases into those larger exercises," Rambeau told Brennan.