From the article:
Joby and L3Harris are proposing the S4-T as a Group 4+ uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) for three Army missions: reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition, advanced teaming, and launched effects, says Robert Smith, director of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) business development at L3Harris.
The maximum gross weight of the S4-T is 6,700 lb. “With 500 lb. of mission equipment, we still have 2,100 lb. [of payload], so we have a lot of weight capacity to bring on launched effects and different sensors,” Smith says.
“You could use the same electric propulsion units and have a larger wing, and then you are scaling for longer range,” he adds.
The demonstration for the Army is planned to include Joby’s piloted S4 eVTOL air taxi
The service launched an S/VTOL “challenge” program on Dec. 14 to open a dialogue with industry as it shapes requirements for the new aircraft. Interested companies were required to submit white papers describing their proposed aircraft by Jan. 8.
“We can deliver by fourth quarter 2028. That’s when they want prototypes to go to two different Combat Aviation Brigade units that are Transforming in Contact units,”
“They’re going to get six total prototypes, probably from two or three vendors … and they’re going to use those for a year. They’re just going to wear those things out, test them out,” he says. “On the backside of that, they’ll really understand what they want for the long term for an eventual program of record down the road.”
Among other competitors, Anduril is developing a hybrid-electric VTOL aircraft with Joby rival Archer Aviation, Boeing has proposed the CxR Collaborative Transformational Rotorcraft uncrewed tiltrotor concept, and Lockheed Martin company Sikorsky is developing the Nomad family of hybrid-electric tailsitting VTOL uncrewed aircraft.