Joby Aviation today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Resonant Sciences, a Dayton, Ohio-based defense technology company, for approximately $500 million.
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 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.
Founded in 2015, Resonant employs approximately 250 people and designs, manufactures and delivers advanced RF and mission systems for U.S. national security customers. The company also specializes in low-observability technologies, structures and subsystems, with capabilities spanning advanced sensing, electronic countermeasures, communications and autonomous systems.
In addition to commercial customers, Resonant sells directly to the U.S. Government and prime contractors supporting classified national security initiatives and active U.S. defense programs of record. Resonant supports sensitive and critical defense programs via its long-standing Facility Security Clearance (FCL) and accredited facilities, with more than 90 percent of its team members holding security clearances, providing the cleared technical workforce and infrastructure required to execute sensitive programs at scale.
Beyond developing RF hardware, Resonant performs end-to-end payload integration and aircraft modification. Its electronics, apertures and radomes are qualified across more than 20 commercial and defense airframes.
The capabilities of the two companies are highly applicable to the defense sector’s next generation platforms, which reflect a broader shift in defense priorities toward autonomous, lower-cost aircraft, for which advanced sensing, electronic countermeasures and resilient communications are central to mission effectiveness. Resonant already holds content positions across multiple next generation platforms and the companies see meaningful potential to deliver differentiated mission systems and platform solutions for next generation requirements and programs.
Resonant operates approximately 105,000 square feet of engineering, integration, testing and manufacturing space across seven buildings in the Dayton, Ohio, area. An additional 125,000-square-foot facility is under construction, more than doubling its footprint and expanding capacity for RF testing, advanced composites and large-scale machining. Resonant also has engineering and manufacturing facilities in Virginia, West Virginia, Michigan, Colorado and North Carolina. Together with Joby’s 768,000 square feet of facilities in Ohio, Resonant’s expanded campus will give the combined company approximately 1 million square feet of manufacturing, integration and testing space across the Dayton region. This concentration of capabilities will establish a major hub for advanced aviation and defense technology in the birthplace of aviation, helping attract top-tier aerospace talent and industry partners to the region.
