Swoop Aero – Our Story and experience
12 August 2019
Delivery of critical supplies reimagined
Delivery of critical supplies reimagined
Swoop Aero was founded to transform the way the world moves essential supplies by making access to the air seamless. Swoop Aero provides a fully integrated and connected aviation platform, not just a drone; which is supported by advanced technology, to give organisations access to the air, to move essential products, on-demand, to places that are otherwise impossible to reach.
It all started in 2017 when our founders got asked a question: could a drone be used to transport chemotherapy medication in regional Australia?
The simple answer is yes; rapid advancements in the last 10 years in microelectronics and sensory systems have brought technology to the point where it is possible.
But the real question was: how could we design a system to deliver these essential medical supplies by air, safely, reliably, and cost-effectively, every day of the week?
Eric, an Air Force Pilot turned management consultant, and Josh, a robotics engineer with a background in industrial automation, set out to solve that problem— and so Swoop Aero was born.
We’ve built the team
Creating a logistics network based on autonomous aircraft is something almost nobody in the world knows how to do. To make this technology commercially operational, at scale, we go to the most challenging environments in the world, and set up our bi-directional air logistics networks.
Based in Melbourne, we’ve been quietly scaling one of the only teams in the world that can be trusted to deliver sustainable, reliable and scalable medical drone logistics networks. Our leadership team combines seven engineering degrees from the top Universities in the world; three sets of Air Force wings with over 8,000 operational flying hours; 50 years combined experience in on-demand logistics including at Rocket Internet, ShippingEasy, Foodora, and the UN; and business experience in the biggest technology companies and the most respected advisory firms in the world.
Our experts are trusted and backed by some of the best known and most successful venture capital firms in the Southern Hemisphere, including Tempus Partners, Right Click Capital, Blackbird Ventures, and Artesian VC.
We’ve built the processes
We have developed a leading air logistics platform, which means critical medical supplies can be delivered on-demand in under 60 minutes. At Swoop Aero we believe that the challenges of providing drone logistics go well beyond the physical technology, so we don’t sell our aircraft. We do the hard work to overcome regulatory and safety issues, and leverage our expertise to maximise impact. The outcome is sustainable, reliable and scalable healthcare logistics infrastructure, at a set monthly price.
Aviation safety is our highest priority, and we have used our experience at commercial airlines and in the military aviation environment to build processes from the top down. This isn’t just theoretical; our operational procedures have been validated by leading experts from regulatory authorities from Africa to the Pacific.
Swoop Aero aircraft ready to make another lifesaving medical drone delivery
We’ve built the technology
Our 3D printed technology means that the people who operate our system can maintain it wherever they are, without having to rely on spare parts from across the world. We also leverage commercial off-the-shelf technology to keep costs low, and splice in our own R&D exactly where it’s needed, to offer an agile design solution that nobody else can.
Our hardware has no single point of failure; if something doesn’t go according to plan, onboard intelligence identifies the issue and takes the safest possible action, faster and more accurately than a human pilot ever could. Every flight is supported by machine-learning-enabled analytics in the cloud, so we can identify when a critical failure may occur, before it ever happens.
We can manage multiple aircraft flights, airborne anywhere in the world, from anywhere in the world, with just an iPad — even without an internet connection! We don’t need expensive infrastructure to support our operations; we believe in low impact ground systems and can be set up and operating almost anywhere in the world, in under 72 hours.
And last but not least, we’ve got the experience that counts
In 2018, we deployed the world’s first autonomous two-way air transport network in Vanuatu. On December 18th, Baby Joy became the first child in the world to be vaccinated with a vaccine delivered by drone under a commercial contract, thanks to a Swoop Aero aircraft delivery.
The first vaccine is delivered by drone (Photo by Unicef)
We completed a four month trial in Vanuatu, and proved our ability to revolutionise the healthcare supply chain with bi-directional logistics, through on-demand delivery of vaccines, pharmaceuticals, test kits, and other supplies. We even made life-saving emergency deliveries of Oxytocin. We gave healthcare workers the control they need to deliver better care, and focus on their jobs without having to worry about supplies.
In 2019, we have deployed a medical drone logistics network in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to support the regional vaccination program in the Equateur province, alongside Washington-based NGO, VillageReach, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The DRC is one of the most challenging environments in the world, and the healthcare system must deal with issues ranging from malaria and yellow fever, to Ebola. We partnered with the Ministry of Health and supported VillageReach to prove that the S
Swoop Aero commenced sustainable, reliable and scalable medical drone deliveries in The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during July 2019. Photo of a flight from Central Africa’s first Government approved Drone port (credit: VillageReach)
This is Swoop Aero, and we are itching to change the world for the better. If this sounds like something you’re interested in, we’d love to hear from you at contact@02504ee58637e0bfe75796c786f6d00a-1889210329.ap-southeast-2.elb.amazonaws.com.