Geopolitical tensions with Hawkish’s defence agenda and escalating the new administration have led many startups to embrace double use strategies to secure revenue through military applications. That’s already aerospace heating trend.
Take Archer Aviation, a California-based startup build Ebutor (electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle). Until recently, Archer’s to-market strategy was air taxi networks in several cities in the US and overseas.
Archer’s focus is now sharper than defense, bringing fresh capital to further its mission.
The company was made public via a special purpose acquisition merger (SPAC) in September 2021, and announced a $300 million share increase from institutional investors such as BlackRock and Wellington on Tuesday. The pay raise will bring Archer’s total funding to approximately $3.36 billion. The fresh capital is behind a $430 million round in December, funding the new Archer Defense Program.
As part of that program, Archer signed an exclusive agreement with weapons maker Andrill, and jointly developed hybrid gas and electric powered VTOL aircraft for critical defence applications. Together, the two are targeting a record program from the Department of Defense. This is a budget acquisition program with guaranteed funds over a set period.
“When we delve into the work we were doing on the defensive front, we realized that the market is much bigger, both in scope and timing, than we originally expected.”
“We are the only company in the area that I think is targeting a fairly record-breaking defense program,” Goel continued. “So we really want to be strategic with the investments we make and we’re all doing our best on this.”
Rivals in spaces such as Joby Aviation and Beta Technologies also have military contracts to test aircraft for surveillance, logistics and reconnaissance missions. Archer has such a contract with the military, but what it now pursues through its record program is funding, the path to scale and a seriously competitive moat.
Goel has confirmed that $300 million from investors will be used primarily to accelerate Archer’s Archer is building Hybrid Craft (VTOL) to the build of Hybrid Craft (VTOL), but bids with DOD We did not share any updates about this.
Archer’s decision comes at a moment of momentum in the industry.
The Trump administration has pledged “quickly emerging technologies” such as AI, drones and counter-drone systems to modernize the military. The very qualities that make EVTOL ideal for city and local flights are also attractive for defence use cases.
Cruise at 300 feet, an electric aircraft from Archer Aviation, and midnight, there is less noise than vehicles passing by on the highway. In urban environments, helicopters blend in with other transport sounds in ways that helicopters cannot.
“A healthy profile is why we are in such a good position (building aircraft) for defense,” Goel says. “When you look at the traditional helicopters used by the defense industry, they are very loud and have a very prominent thermal signature. And because of that, helicopters are not a big fit for more modest missions.”
The Archer’s Midnight is built with 12 sets of engines and propellers. Distributing propulsion between small rotors that spin slightly slower than a single large main rotor and tail rotor will result in much less noise.
The VTOL is designed to transition from vertical lifts to airplane-like horizontal flight. During forward flight, midnight generates all lifts from the wings, not from downward thrust, and also reduces overall rotor noise, Archer CEO and founder Adam Goldstein has reported on a recent flight demonstration I spoke to TechCrunch.
The Road to Commercialization of Archer

Although Archer is trying to supply aircraft to the defense industry, the company still plans to launch its first limited commercial aviation taxi network in the United Arab Emirates in the second half of 2025.
In 2026, Archer said he would expand his air taxi service to several other cities and countries, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, South Korea and India. The company is partnering with major airlines to promote aviation taxi networks such as United, Southwest and Indigo. In November 2024, a joint venture from Japan Airlines and Sumitomo agreed to purchase up to $500 million worth of electric aircraft from Archer, conditionally.
However, 2026 isn’t too far away, so Archer has pushed the timeline out earlier. This is because Archer is committed to verifying the safety of EVTOL and ensuring the required certification from the Federal Aviation Administration.
In the US, EVTOL companies must ensure type certification to approve aircraft designs. To prove that vehicles can be mass-produced to meet approved designs, there is production certification, as well as airworthiness certification to ensure that aircraft are flight-safe.
Goel said Archer is far ahead of these certifications, but has yet to receive any of them. Archer has not yet flew to the aircraft with the pilot. This is the required step to test the aircraft with passengers. He added that Archer would place the pilot “immediately” at one of the midnight.
The process of authenticating aircraft and scaling production is expensive.
Construction of Archer’s Georgia Factory, built in strategic investor Stellantis, is almost complete and is expected to begin this quarter. Archer hopes to build 650 aircraft each year by 2030. However, this year, Archer’s goal is to produce between the Georgia facility and the California prototype facility.
Goldstein told TechCrunch in October that most of the capital expenditure to get the factory to run is already being spent, so he is focusing on scaling the midnight Evtols while developing a hybrid defense aircraft.
Today’s pay raises exceed Archer’s total liquidity well over $1 billion, extending it to “multiple years” through the early stages of commercialization and defense work, Goel said.
Archer has not yet shared full-year revenue with the fourth quarter of 2024, but our total operating expenses were $385 million in the first three quarters of the year, or 281 million on an adjusted basis. I’ve reached dollars. Archer had expected adjusted operating expenses to be between $95 million and $110 million for the fourth quarter. It is not yet clear that Archer’s development of hybrid aircraft for war will increase the company’s costs.