Overview
- Joby’s Superpilot-equipped Cessna 208B flew 7,342 miles in 43.7 hours during PACAF’s REFORPAC, including six sorties covering 2,416 miles and a 4,925‑mile roundtrip Pacific crossing.
- Flights were overseen from remote ground control stations—primarily Andersen Air Force Base—whiGuam—while a safety pilot rode along, with no manual inputs required according to the command.
- The aircraft executed cargo delivery, hub‑and‑spoke logistics, ISR, inter‑island transport and dynamic retasking profiles under VFR and IFR in multiple classes of airspace.
- Pacific Air Forces framed the effort as advancing Agile Combat Employment by shifting shorter, riskier runs to smaller autonomous aircraft and freeing C‑17s and C‑130s for long‑haul missions, calling it the first such Indo‑Pacific test against real‑world challenges.
- The demonstrations occurred under an existing Air Force contract, and with a $9.4 billion FY26 DoD request for uncrewed and remotely operated aircraft, Joby says the data will inform its work with L3Harris on an optionally piloted, hybrid VTOL variant targeted to fly this year.