Having long explored potential defence applications for its in-development Midnight air taxi, US start-up Archer Aviation has formed a partnership with Anduril to “jointly develop” a hybrid-electric aircraft for military purposes.
Santa Clara-based Archer disclosed on 12 December the launch of Archer Defense, in addition to raising an additional $430 million in equity capital to fund the programme from partners Stellantis, United Airlines, Wellington Management and Abu Dhabi-based investment holding company 2PointZero.
Archer says the latest round of investments pushes its total capital raise to nearly $2 billion and cash position to about $1 billion– a critical boost to its balance sheet as the start-up seeks to certificate Midnight as soon as next year.
Adam Goldstein, Archer’s chief executive, says in a social media post that the influx of cash “gives us one of the strongest balance sheets in the sector”.
Archer Defense will be led by head of advanced projects Joseph Pantalone, who previously worked at Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky.
Together with Costa Mesa-based defence start-up Anduril – which is developing several autonomous platforms, including its uncrewed Fury fighter, a new series of cruise missiles called Barracuda and a variety of smaller drones – Archer will seek to develop a hybrid-electric vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft that will target a ”potential programme of record” from the US Department of Defense.
”With Archer’s ability to rapidly develop advanced VTOL aircraft using existing commercial parts and supply chains and Anduril’s deep expertise in artificial intelligence, missionisation and systems integration, the partnership will accelerate speed to market for critical hybrid VTOL capabilities at a fraction of the cost of more traditional alternatives,” Archer says.
Goldstein says “engineering on this programme is already underway”, and the companies suggest that the hybrid-electric VTOL will be first in a series of proposed defence platforms.
”From the time we’ve spent with the Anduril team, it’s clear that we share a common DNA – we understand what it takes to innovate and build rapidly, safely and at scale,” he says.
The new partnership is a potential game-changer in the electric air taxi sector, according to Mark Moore, chief exectutive of advanced propulsion developer Whisper Aero and former engineering director of aviation at Uber.
“This changes everything for Archer to set them up to be far more successful than previous valuations considered and allows them to surpass Joby [Aviation] as the #1 eVTOL developer in terms of market path opportunities,” he says in a posting on networking platform LinkedIn.
Moore says ”Archer will have a clear path to a dual-use military-civil market strategy that directly competes with helicopters in these markets”.
A more robust defence strategy also reduces the company’s reliance on uncertain certification timelines with the Federal Aviation Administration, he says. “This is a huge differentiation from companies completely dependent on FAA or EASA certification who will have to continue fundraising into 2026.”
In August, Archer delivered the first of six Midnight aircraft to the US Air Force as part of its $142 million contract with the AFWERX Agility Prime programme.
Competitor Joby, which is considered likely to become the first air taxi company to certificate its aircraft with the FAA, also has a longstanding relationship with USAF and has produced two airframes for the force.
