Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing Pioneer Joby Aviation, Inc. (NYSE:JOBY) Has Made First Delivery of Aircraft to Edwards Airforce Base
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Joby Aviation has made it’s first eVTOL delivery, six months ahead of the scheduled delivery date. Edwards Air Force Base will use the aircraft for cargo and passenger transportation. A Joby announcement says that each Joby and U.S. Air Force personnel will operate the aircraft: and NASA can even use the aircraft for research.
Joby’s aircraft, which has already begun flying at Edwards AFB, is the primary electric air taxi to be stationed on a U.S. military base and is believed to be the primary delivery of an electrical air taxi within the U.S., as a part of Joby’s $131 million AFWERX Agility Prime contract with the U.S. Air Force. Joby’s current and previously accomplished work with the Department of Defense represents a complete potential contract value of $163 million, the most important within the industry.
The Agility Prime contract calls for the delivery of as much as 9 aircraft. Joby plans to deliver the second in early 2024.
Joby Aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base
The US manufactured Joby eVTOL shall be stationed at Edwards for not less than a yr, utilizing the charging and ground support infrastructure provided by Joby. The installation will provide critical data to maneuver the advanced aircraft sector forward. “The U.S. Air Force and Joby will conduct joint flight testing and operations to reveal the aircraft’s capabilities in realistic mission settings. On-base operations can even include the training of Air Force pilots and aircraft maintenance crews, which is able to provide the DOD with helpful insight into the performance of eVTOL aircraft and can give Joby on-the-ground operational and training experience as the corporate prepares for the launch of economic passenger service in 2025,” says the Joby announcement.
“We’re proud to affix the ranks of revolutionary aircraft that first demonstrated their capabilities at Edwards Air Force Base, including the primary American jet fighter, the primary supersonic aircraft, and lots of others which have pushed the boundaries of aviation technology,” said JoeBen Bevirt, Founder and CEO of Joby.
“The longstanding support of the DOD and NASA has been critical to the rapid development of electrical aviation and eVTOL aircraft, and demonstrates how successful public-private partnerships can bring recent technology to life at speed. Their work can have profound implications for continued American leadership in each business and defense aerospace technology,” he added.
“Agility Prime’s stated objective in 2020 was to work towards an operational capability for transformative vertical lift within the DoD by 2023. The arrival of Joby’s aircraft at Edwards AFB is a vital step towards achieving this objective,” said Col Elliott Leigh, AFWERX director and Chief Commercialization Officer for the Department of the Air Force.
“The delivery of this primary eVTOL aircraft is the beginning of a brand new chapter in Edwards’ wealthy aerospace history,” notes Maj Phillip Woodhull, director, Emerging Technologies Integrated Test Force. “This partners private industry with the 412th Test Wing’s world-renowned test management execution. We’re excited to agilely test, experiment with, and evaluate this recent technology for potential future national defense applications.”
In partnership with the U.S. Air Force’s AFWERX program, NASA can even be supporting this testing at Edwards Air Force Base with NASA’s pilots, researchers, and equipment as a part of their commitment to advancing the Advanced Air Mobility industry as an entire, for the advantage of all. NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center is positioned on Edwards Air Force Base, and has an extended history of supporting essential technological milestones in aviation and space – supersonic and hypersonic flight, digital fly-by-wire control systems, and the space shuttles.
“NASA’s participation within the Joby and AFWERX project will provide our researchers with hands-on experience with a representative eVTOL vehicle, targeting how these kinds of aircraft could fit into the national airspace for on a regular basis use, that may inform NASA’s effort in supporting the complete eVTOL industry,” said NASA research pilot Wayne Ringelberg. “The research will include a concentrate on handling qualities evaluation tools, autonomy, and airspace integration, which is all needed research to push the industry forward.”
With a variety of as much as 100 miles plus energy reserves and a top speed of 200 mph, the Joby aircraft is able to transporting a pilot and 4 passengers quickly and quietly with zero operating emissions.
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