Business Aviation & AAM Report

Electric aircraft startup Joby Aviation is to acquire U.S. defense contractor Resonant Sciences, a developer of radomes and antennas for radar, electronic warfare, communications and navigation, for $450 million in cash and $50 million in equity.

Archer Aviation plans to acquire Boeing subsidiaries Wisk Aero, Insitu and SkyGrid in a deal that gives the eVTOL developer a major position in autonomous flight, uncrewed aircraft and airspace management technology.

Danny Deep has been appointed to the board of directors of General Dynamics, the parent company of Gulfstream Aerospace.

Divisions between the U.S. and Europe on certifying commercial eVTOL air taxis, and the safety levels demanded have been codified in new guidance issued by the FAA.

Embraer Executive Jets posts $725 million in Q2 revenue, up 32%, with backlog growth and plans for 200 jets annually by 2030 as Eve advances eVTOL milestones.

Starlink plans to expand beyond 100,000 satellites with V3 designs, boosting bandwidth 100 times to meet AI and robotics data demands.

DARPA’s Lift Challenge pushes drone payload-to-weight limits, with Avidrone winning by carrying 3.84 times its weight over a 5-mi. course.

Solairus Aviation acquires Clay Lacy’s aircraft management and charter divisions, creating the world’s largest managed private aircraft fleet.

Ampaire has begun hybrid-electric flight operations in Utah under the FAA eVTOL Integration Pilot Program.

Private charter provider Flightpath has expanded its service area beyond Ontario and Quebec to western Canada.

A Greek startup is proposing an autonomous amphibious firefighting aircraft aimed at removing aircrews from the perilous conditions associated with aerial firefighting.

Europe has seen almost 1,500 wildfires in recent weeks, consuming nearly 450,000 hectares of land. Flight Friday looks at global monthly flight hours of dedicated firefighting aircraft.

Joby Aviation is accelerating aircraft production and manufacturing as it prepares to begin flights under the U.S. eVTOL Integration Pilot Program in September.

China’s NUAA completes the first flight of its Qizhi-5 tiltrotor UAS, advancing long-range vertical-lift technology with a 1,900 km range.

Merlin achieves a key milestone with CAANZ for certifying AI-driven autonomous flight on Cessna Caravans, advancing pilot-supervised autonomy.

UK-based Hill Helicopters has completed the first successful runs of its in-house-developed GT50 turboshaft engine.

U.S. startup Impact Drones has launched out of stealth offering drone interceptors as a service to protect data centers, airports, power grids and other infrastructure.

Archer unveils AI platform ZEE, predicting aircraft movements to enhance airport safety and efficiency, with testing underway at Hawthorne Airport.

The acquisition of Belgium-based offshore rotorcraft operator NHV by a Chinese-owned lessor GD Helicopter Finance has been blocked by the Belgian government.

Beta Technologies has secured about $830 million in additional financing from the Export-Import Bank of the U.S. to ramp up manufacturing.

The decision by South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace to terminate a contract to supply actuators to electric air taxi developer Vertical Aerospace was mutually agreed to and a new supplier is onboard, the UK startup says.

The Embraer Praetor 500 and Praetor 600 is featured in the August 2026 edition of Aviation Week's monthly Program Profile.

UK telecommunications firm BT says it is seeing growing adoption of cellular connectivity as the primary communications link for low-altitude uncrewed aircraft systems.

Atoms, a real estate redevelopment company headed by Uber co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick, has partnered with electric air taxi developer Joby Aviation to acquire and develop vertiports sites in the U.S.

Eve Air Mobility has signed an LOI with aviation finance company Shearwater Global Capital for up to 16 Eve 100 eVTOL air taxis.