Joby Aviation’s four-passenger prototype has been awarded the first airworthiness approval by the U.S. Air Force of an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. Beta Technologies is close behind, expected to receive a similar approval in the first quarter of next year and begin flying missions for the military.
- Initial airworthiness approval is not a Department of Defense certification for the aircraft, which Agility Prime officials hope to award to at least one eVTOL aircraft by 2023
- It will allow an aircraft to begin flying some missions for the U.S. military, which two of those flying partners, California-based Joby Aviation and Vermont-based Beta Technologies, plan to do next year.
- Agility Prime program seeks to smooth the path of leading aircraft developers to certification and deployment, leveraging the considerable resources of the Air Force to do so.
Read the full article on evtol.com here: https://evtol.com/news/joby-aviation-us-military-airworthiness-approval-evtol/
