By On August 11, Joby Aviation, Inc. announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Resonant Sciences, a Dayton, Ohio-based defense technology company, for approximately $500 million. The acquisition will represent a significant expansion of Joby’s defense business, delivering immediate scale through a rapidly growing and EBITDA-positive business supporting active U.S. national security programs.
Resonant also brings classified infrastructure, qualified products, established production operations and longstanding customer relationships, as well as a deeply experienced technical team. By bringing together the companies’ complementary aerospace engineering capabilities, the combination will create a scaled defense growth platform that accelerates autonomy and expands the applications for Joby’s technology, according to Joby.
Upon closing, Resonant will become Joby’s dedicated defense business and continue to operate under the Resonant Sciences name, led by Co-Founder and CEO J. Micah North. Joby’s existing defense initiatives, which are built on more than a decade of work with defense and intelligence customers, will be consolidated within the new business unit. These include the development of dual-use turbine-electric and hydrogen-electric aircraft, as well as a dual-use autonomy technology stack. Housing this work within Resonant will allow Joby’s commercial aviation organization to maintain its primary focus on certifying, manufacturing, and commercializing its electric air taxi.
The combination of Joby and Resonant is also expected to create significant opportunities in adjacent markets. An early focus is expected to be the integration of Joby’s dual-use autonomy stack with Resonant’s Radio Frequency (RF) sensing and signal-processing capabilities, accelerating the development of software-defined autonomous systems for defense customers.
“Resonant has built an exceptional business that combines advanced technology, vertically integrated production capabilities and deep customer trust,” said JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby Aviation. “The combination will pair Resonant’s established capabilities with Joby’s globally leading aircraft propulsion technologies, creating a powerful platform for the next phase of Resonant’s growth. What makes this combination especially compelling is how closely aligned our teams are. Having worked with Micah and his team for several years, we know that we share a passion for deep technical innovation, a bias toward solving hard problems from first principles and a vertically integrated approach that brings design, engineering, testing and production together under one roof.”
“Demand for advanced defense technology is growing rapidly, and Resonant has built the technology, customer relationships and manufacturing capabilities required to meet it,” said North. “Joining Joby gives our team access to additional engineering depth, aircraft platforms, autonomy technology and production expertise, allowing us to move faster for our existing customers and pursue opportunities that neither company could address alone,” he added. “Resonant’s name, leadership, people and commitments to our customers will remain in place. What changes is the scale of what we can build and deliver.”
Source: Joby Aviation
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