An Aussie first – Swoop Aero is coming to the USA for FAA with their newly unveiled aircraft Kite™

August 2, 2021, Melbourne Australia: Swoop Aero was founded to transform how the world moves by making access to the skies seamless. We provide the world’s leading technology platform for sustainable, reliable, and scalable drone logistics, which we’ve used extensively in DR Congo, Malawi, and Scotland during the pandemic to support the COVID response, including transporting COVID tests and COVID vaccines.

We are launching our most advanced aircraft Kite ™, and we’re bringing it to the USA for Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification, which will propel drone logistics into new heights, continuing to make access to the skies seamless.

Kite ™ is Swoop Aero’s most advanced aircraft. But it is only one cog that makes the wheel turn in the advanced technology platform, which provides the full technology stack, including hardware, software, and supporting infrastructure. Real-time tracking, supply chain data, capture, and analytics are provided within an integrated technology platform.

Bringing together the best learnings of unparalleled operational and real-world experience from Swoop Aero’s ‘Kookaburra’— the existing aircraft that has clocked up 10,000 flights and counting—the Kite™ is built to unlock the skies above cities. Emerging from an Australian start-up, we believe the Kite™ will be the most advanced aircraft of its type being progressed through the FAA certification program.

This means that the Kite is capable of true airspace integration bringing a step change to breadth and scope of RPAS operations, and positioning Swoop Aero as the Qantas of drone logistics. This is supported by reciprocal Type Certification activities in Europe and Asia-Pacific to ensure that Swoop Aero can mobilise operations anywhere, anytime.

The Kite has been developed by Swoop Aero’s highly skilled and experienced team of Australian-based engineers to accommodate swift and sustainable manufacture and production requirements to scale effectively with the unique needs of impact-driven organisations across the world.

The Kite can travel up to 200km per hour and can operate across geographical ranges of more than 180 kilometres on a single battery charge with an increased payload capacity of up to 5 kgs. The driving force behind the Kite is Swoop Aero’s technology platform, which provides the full technology stack including hardware, software, and supporting infrastructure to customers. Real-time tracking, supply chain data, capture, and analytics are provided within an integrated technology platform. Back at Swoop Aero’s Melbourne-based HQ, a Digital Twin drives insights into system reliability and performance to deliver world-leading airworthiness outcomes through the use of AI.

Swoop Aero’s new aircraft is a powerhouse that brings together Swoop Aero’s lessons in over four years of operations across seven countries. With Swoop Aero’s operational capacity fully finessed for versatility, the Kite is designed with precision to suit the needs of communities in a range of markets, unlocking the skies for critical tasks such as:

• Delivering pharmaceuticals, blood for urgent transfusion, automatic external defibrillators (AED) or personal protective equipment (PPE) into emergencies, and assisting with disaster response;
• Minimising human interactions in the supply chain when isolation or social distancing is required;
• Providing fast, safe and efficient transport between hospitals, including protecting organs;
• Capturing aerial data for coastal, forestry, or terrain monitoring, as well as climate science and/or extreme weather management teams, and;
• Contributing to search and rescue operations, including in wilderness and coastline areas and during extreme weather events;

“Our vision is for a world where seamless supply chains bring emotional and economic prosperity to all they serve. We have developed a sophisticated, agile, and robust technology platform that is the complete infrastructure needed for drone logistics at scale and proven it in the real world. That platform, alongside the Kite, will support delivering our company’s vision as we strive to provide a service to 100 million people in 2025.” said Swoop Aero’s Chief Executive Officer, Eric Peck.

“The release and unveiling of the Kite is the sum of listening to our partners’ needs’ and learning from our extensive experience across six countries and three continents to develop a pioneering solution that makes access to the skies seamless to address critical gaps in access to essential healthcare, emergency response, and search and rescue”.

The next generation of aircraft will spur the rapid expansion of the Swoop Aero air logistics platform globally, including across Swoop Aero’s existing network operations in Malawi, DR Congo, Mozambique, and Australia. It will enable Swoop Aero’s expansion into the American, European, and Asian markets.

With the successful acquisition of FAA type certification for the Kite aircraft expected to occur through 2022, Kite will advance Swoop Aero’s plans to scale the production of Kite™ into new and emerging growth markets, including medical commodity delivery, search, and rescue operations, emergency management activities, and mapping and monitoring activities.

“The technology and long-term vision alignment we see in private capital are what has continued to drive us down this path,” says Eric.

“We’re not focused on short-term returns. We are looking beyond the next 5 years, to how Swoop Aero will become a leader not only in the growing medical logistics market, which is already growing exponentially, and a one-stop air logistics company in a market set to exceed $90 billion by 2030.

For further information on Swoop Aero, including how you can get involved in Swoop Aero operations, please reach out to Swoop Aero’s Marketing team media@swoop.aero