BUSINESS
Swift Engineering - Super-Fly: On the Road or In the Skies
by Donia Moore
of racing king Mario Andrettii, Michael fol- lowed the family tradition in 1997 with the help of Swift Engineering. His Indycar, de- signed and built in San Clemente, beat the record time in its debut race.
M So many cars,
so little time “The design was so successful that Swift
was awarded exclusive motorsport and chassis designer and manufacturer of the Formula At- lantic Series for the next 11 years,” says Swift CSO Rick Heis. In 2006, they designed, built and delivered
40 Formula Atlantic open-wheel racecars in just 240 days. “We had to time it perfectly so that we
would be releasing the cars to all the competi- tors on the same day so that no one would have an advantage in the upcoming race,” he re- members.
Swift Engineering, located in the Rancho San Clemente Business Park. Challenges like these fire up the team of
engineers at San Clemente’s Swift Engineering
company. Unmatched by their competition in the racecar industry, Swift’s strategy expanded to include the newest entries into another kind of race - the race for military superiority. UAVs. In a word- drones.
ichael Andretti flashed across the Indy 500 finish line in a roar of ex- haust and a curtain of dust. The son
bilities of military usage. Originally, Boeing had a lock on small portable Marine and Navy UAVs used for reconnaissance missions. In the past, the company’s ScanEagle found its way into Marine hands when the Pentagon decided they were vital for combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. A year later, the Navy dove in and pur- chased more to provide over-the-horizon mon- itoring of oil platforms and suspicious ships. To cover these purchases, the Pentagon crafted a non-competitive order – permitted when an item is designated as an “urgent operational re- quirement” - with Boeing’s aerospace design firm in 2004.
Bats and Killer Bees In 2008, Raytheon and Swift Engineering
teamed up to showcase their own battle-ready contender, the Killer Bee, a week before its un- veiling at the Navy League’s 2008 Sea-Air- Space Exposition. New details included the five ft. curved wings that became a trademark. Eventually, Swift designed and manufactured a series of unmanned aerial vehicles, producing eight versions in nine years. Northrup Grum- man purchased the Killer Bee’s product line, which ultimately became the Bat UAS. The company retained Swift to continue working on the project, refining design and perform- ance, flight testing and manufacturing. It was great for the small engineering firm to have a big benefactor, but there were challenges, too. Swift had been producing four-five vehicles a month. Grumman needed them to increase their manufacturing capacity to 30 a month. Another challenge was that there were a num-
“More-than-one-company” Insurance Agent
The Commercial
Property & Liability Business Auto • Bonds
Retail • Workman’s Comp. Group Health• Contractors
Personal
Auto • Homeowner Life • Health
Disability • Tenants Annuities
Bob & Peggy Stith 361-0456 FAX: 361-0183 NOW AT OUR NEW LOCATION! 30 SANCLEMENTEJOURNAL
Discounts Low Rates
Superior Service Se Habla Español
2340 S. El Camino Real, #2. San Clemente, CA 92672
Visit us at:
www.ThreeCountyInsurance.com Serving Orange County Since 1975
Drones, Northrup Grumman purchased the Killer Bee’s product line.
It’s not your brother’s RC Contrary to popular thinking, drones are
not new. Unmanned aerial vehicles have been around for a while. In fact, you may know them as RCs or remote control vehicles. Many children have received “drones” for Christmas in the form of a battery powered remote con- trol helicopter or airplane. It’s the popular usage and increased sophistication of these UAVs that’s new. Swift Engineering was in the forefront of developing UAVs such as the run- way-independent Killer Bee blended wing UAV and its mobile launch/retrieval system de- signed and built in 2002, long before “drone” became a household word. The drone concept began with the possi-
ber of contractors all over the US involved in manufacturing various components, but the Bat wouldn’t fly until it left the San Clemente floor. The Bat became Northrop Grumman’s UAV of choice. It could be configured with dif- ferently-sized fuel tanks and different sensor payloads to meet changing tactical missions. These might include intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, target acquisition and commu- nications relay. Additionally, the Bat was cre- ated with a blended body design, enabling a much larger payload volume (3.2 cubic feet) that allowed it to carry more payload than other UAVs of its size. The Bat, like it’s parent product, the Killer Bee, doesn’t need a pilot or a runway to take
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76