# Joby Aviation builds out defense business with $500M acquisition

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/joby-aviation-builds-out-defense-business-with-500m-acquisition/
- Published: 2026-08-11T16:06:08+00:00
- Updated: 2026-08-11T16:15:08+00:00
- Original publisher: TechCrunch
- Original article: https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/11/joby-aviation-builds-out-defense-business-with-500m-acquisition/
- Topics: Software

## Key points

- Joby Aviation to buy Resonant Sciences for $500 million, expanding into defence
- New defence unit absorbs Joby's turbine-electric and hydrogen-electric aircraft projects
- Deal mirrors Joby's earlier Blade Air Mobility buy to boost near-term revenue

## Summary

Joby Aviation has agreed to acquire Resonant Sciences, an Ohio-based maker of radio frequency and sensor systems, for $500 million in cash and stock, deepening the electric air taxi developer's push into the defence sector. The deal, disclosed in a regulatory filing on Tuesday, will see Resonant become a dedicated defence division within Joby, allowing the rest of the company to concentrate on certifying, manufacturing and launching its electric urban air taxis.

Resonant's co-founder and chief executive, J. Micah North, will lead the new division, which absorbs Joby's existing defence work, including turbine-electric and hydrogen-electric aircraft development and its autonomy technology stack. Resonant brings $100 million in trailing 12-month revenue and access to classified US government programmes, complementing Joby's earlier defence tie-up with L3Harris Technologies. The acquisition follows a pattern for Joby, which bought Blade Air Mobility's helicopter rideshare business for about $125 million last year to secure near-term revenue; Blade contributed $36.2 million of Joby's $38.6 million in second-quarter revenue.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.