• 02 May 2021 11:33 PM
• 0

Joby Lauded and Plans to Deliver

In March, Fast Company named Joby Aviation to its 2021 list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies, and a Popular Science posting revealed the first clear photo of Joby’s first-generation S4 air taxi technology demonstrator (shown). The photo of the unmanned S4 1.0 is dated Sept. 13, 2017, likely the aircraft’s first full conversion to wingborne flight, following its first hover flight in April 2017 (see “The First Electric VTOL Unicorn: Joby Aviation,” Vertiflite, March/April 2020). To date, the company has made more than 1,000 test flights of its demonstrators.

On an April 14 webinar by IPO Edge, Joby executive chairman Paul Sciarra said that its US Air Force Agility Prime Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II Plus contract last year was for Joby to deliver two aircraft to the Air Force in 2021. If awarded a Phase III extension, Joby could deliver 10–30 aircraft for on-base operations.