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Swift Engineering Inc. is an American spacecraft engineering firm that builds autonomous systems,
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribut ...
s, submarines,
spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to spaceflight, fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including Telecommunications, communications, Earth observation satellite, Earth ...
, ground vehicles, robotics, and composite parts. Swift used to produce racing cars for open-wheel racing series, including
Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula Fo ...
,
Formula Atlantic Formula Atlantic is a specification of open-wheel racing car developed in the 1970s. It was used in professional racing through the IMSA Atlantic Championship until 2009 and is currently primarily used in amateur racing through Sports Car Club ...
, the Champ Car World Series and Formula Nippon, having designed and fabricated over 500 race cars.


History

Swift Engineering was founded as SWIFT CARS in 1983 by David Bruns, Alex Cross,
R. K. Smith R. K. Smith (born October 16, 1937) is an American stock car racing driver. He has competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series in the early nineties, making two starts at Sonoma. Racing career Before racing in stock cars Smith was a regular compet ...
, and Paul White. Their first car, the DB-1, was a
Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula Fo ...
which won the SCCA National Championship in its debut race. The company later built cars for Sports 2000, Formula Ford 2000,
Formula Atlantic Formula Atlantic is a specification of open-wheel racing car developed in the 1970s. It was used in professional racing through the IMSA Atlantic Championship until 2009 and is currently primarily used in amateur racing through Sports Car Club ...
and
CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from the flatbed tr ...
. Swift chassis won the Atlantic Championship from 1989 to 1992 and British Formula Renault in 1990. In 1991, Swift was purchased by
Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka. It was founded by Kōnosuke Matsushita in 1918 as a lightbulb ...
executive and former Indycar racing driver Hiro Matsushita, grandson of
Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka. It was founded by Kōnosuke Matsushita in 1918 as a lightbulb ...
founder Konosuke Matsushita, who renamed the firm Swift Engineering. Under his direction, Swift moved up to the CART World Series for 1997, with two cars entered by Newman/Haas Racing and driven by Michael Andretti and
Christian Fittipaldi Christian Fittipaldi (born 18 January 1971) is a Brazilian former racing driver who has competed in various forms of motorsport including Formula One, Champ Car, and NASCAR. He was a highly rated young racing driver in the early 1990s, and par ...
. In CART, Swifts got four wins and 24 podiums from 182 race entries. Tarso Marques was the last driver to race a Swift chassis in CART in the 2000 season. From 2000 Swift Engineering started to provide vertically integrated, multi-disciplined, product development services including design, development, engineering, testing, and rapid manufacturing of prototypes, demonstrators, and pre-production articles. In 2018, Swift Engineering started its overseas office forming, a joint venture with
Kobe Institute of Computing is a private university in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. History KIC was found by Mr Tomio Fukuoka in . The Graduate School of Information Technology has established in . Fields of study KIC Graduate School of Information Technology has one M ...
called Swift-Xi Inc in
Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, w ...
, Japan providing data, logistics, and operations of autonomous and robotic technologies.


Racing cars

The first Swift racecar was the DB-1 Formula Ford. The car won its debus race, the 1983 SCCA Runoffs at Road Atlanta. The DB-1 was the third car designed by Bruns and was considered to be a design simplification of Burns's previous design, the Automotive Development ADF. The car was considered a landmark design that rendered prior Formula Ford models obsolete. The DB-1 had the lowest aerodynamic drag of any Formula Ford at the time of its release. Over 100 DB-1s were sold in the 18 months following the car's release. The car won 10 Formula Ford championships over the next 13 years. The closely related DB6 won an additional six championships with the last one in 2008. The success of the car was considered one of the factors that resulted in a slow decline of Formula Ford in the US after 1984. File:Andre Lotterer 2010 Formula Nippon Motegi (May) FP2.jpg, Formula Nippon car in 2010 File:AtlanticCars2007.jpg, Atlantic Championship cars racing in
Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...
, TX 2007 File:Robert Wickens Champ Car Atlantic 2007 Houston.jpg, Robert Wickens driving at the Grand Prix of Houston Champ Car Atlantic support race in 2007 File:Loic Duval 2010 Formula Nippon Motegi (May) FP2.jpg, Loïc Duval (Docomo Team Dandelion Racing) during the Saturday free practice session in 2010
In 1998, Swift became the sole supplier for the new spec regulation Toyota Atlantic Championship. In 2006, the Atlantic race series became a part of the Champ Car (formerly CART) organization and was renamed the Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by
Mazda , commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima (town), Fuchū, Hiroshima Prefecture, Hiroshima, Japan. In 2015, M ...
. Swift built an entirely new car for the series, using 016.a as a chassis code. Swift became the sole supplier of chassis for the Japanese Formula Nippon championship in 2009 with the 017.n chassis (also known as the FN09). An updated model called SF13 was used in 2013. A derivative of the 017.n, the 020.I, was proposed by the company in response to
Indy Lights Indy NXT, previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as Firestone Indy NXT Series for sponsorship reasons. Indy Lights is the highest step on the Road to Indy, a progr ...
' requirement for a new chassis for the 2014 season.


Aviation

Beginning in 1997, Swift diversified into aerospace/aviation markets, working with major companies including
Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company. With 90,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $30 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military tec ...
,
Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and ...
, Lockheed Martin,
SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...
,
Sikorsky Sikorsky or Sikorski may refer to: * Sikorsky (comics), a Marvel Comics character * Sikorsky (crater), a lunar crater * Sikorsky Aircraft, an American aircraft manufacturer People with the surname * Brian Sikorski (born 1974), Major League Basebal ...
, and others. Swift has also worked for govermential agencies such as
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...
.


Killer Bee

Swift Engineering designed, built, and delivered the runway-independent Killer Bee blended wing UAV and its mobile launch/retrieval system in 2002.
Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company. With 90,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $30 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military tec ...
bought the Killer Bee UAV product line from Swift Engineering, and renamed it as the Northrop Grumman Bat in April 2009. It has been used primarily as an
ISR ISR may refer to: Organizations * Institute for Strategy and Reconciliation, a think tank, relief and development organization * Institutional and Scientific Relations, a Directorate of the European Commission * International Star Registry, a com ...
gathering tool, and features a 10-ft wingspan with 30-lb payload capacity.


Eclipse 400

In 2007 Swift Engineering produced the prototype Eclipse 400 single-engine jet aircraft under contract to
Eclipse Aviation The Eclipse Aviation Corporation was the Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States-based manufacturer of the Eclipse 500 very light jet (VLJ), and also at one time proposed developing the Eclipse 400 single-engined jet. The company was founded ...
. The aircraft was built in secrecy at
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...
's Wallops Flight Facility in
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...
and first flown on 2 July 2007. Swift supplies high-strength, low-weight composite parts and assemblies to a number of aerospace industry customers. Engineering consultancy and the design and production of tooling for composite parts are further aspects of the business.


Sikorsky–Boeing SB-1 Defiant

Swift Engineering Inc. joined the Sikorsky-Boeing team in 2015 to support the development of the Sikorsky–Boeing SB-1 Defiant Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR TD), with design and manufacturing of a significant portion of the airframe structure.


Swift020/021

In 2014 Swift started developing the Swift020 fully electric, fully autonomous VTOL UAS. This aircraft is runway independent and transitions to horizontal flight through its autopilot software. the first UAS featuring X-blade technology, made its first fully autonomous flight demonstration in the city of
Kobe, Japan Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whi ...
on July 21, 2018. It takes off and lands like a
quadrotor A quadcopter or quadrotor is a type of helicopter with four rotors. Although quadrotor helicopters and convertiplanes have long been flown experimentally, the configuration remained a curiosity until the arrival of the modern UAV or drone. ...
but transitions to efficient fixed-wing forward flight without additional launch and recovery equipment, vastly reducing operational time and cost. It has a 4-meter wingspan, 2–3 hours of endurance, and a 1.5-kg payload.


Swift Ultra Long Endurance (SULE)

In 2018 Swift proposed to design, fabricate, and fly a Swift Ultra Long Endurance (SULE) 30-day mission high-altitude long endurance (HALE) UAS with flight tests including 24-hrs, 48-hrs, and 7-days during the Phase 2 timeline for
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...
. All operations, ground control, safety, reviews, and payload will be included in these test flights and within the proposed 2-year timeframe. Swift HALE completed its first test flight from Spaceport America in
New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex , Offi ...
in 2020.


Naval technology


XLUUV submarine

In 2017 Swift Engineering designed, fabricated, and delivered QTY 10, 10-ft Iridium NEXT payload adapter cylinders, structures for a 50 ft. XLUUV unmanned submarine.


Recognitions

Swift Engineering has been nominated and recognized multiple times in the past few years for its program management techniques and its quality management techniques due to the extensive programs Swift has been involved with. *2012: Swift Engineering received the JEC Americas Innovation Award for its out of autoclave process *2012:
Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company. With 90,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $30 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military tec ...
Small Business Supplier of the Year, awarded from 1500 suppliers *2013: Swift Engineering has been chosen as a "Best in Class" A&D Company to Watch by
Aviation Week ''Aviation Week & Space Technology'', often abbreviated ''Aviation Week'' or ''AW&ST'', is the flagship magazine of the Aviation Week Network. The weekly magazine is available in print and online, reporting on the aerospace, defense and aviatio ...
*2015:
Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and ...
Supplier of the Year nomination in 2015 *2017: Swift Engineering was awarded "Best Intrapreneurship" by OCTANe, Orange County's technology, and life sciences accelerator organization, during the annual High Tech Innovations event held Oct. 13, 2017, in Newport Beach, CA. *2018: Swift proposed to design, fabricate, and fly a Swift Ultra Long Endurance (SULE) 30-day mission HALE UAS with flight tests including 24-hrs, 48-hrs, and 7-days during the Phase 2 timeline for
Nasa The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...
. All operations, ground control, safety, reviews, and payload will be included in these test flights and within the proposed 2-year timeframe. *2019: Swift Engineering has been selected out of 25 companies around the world to install a UAS academy for the Ministry of National Security (Bahamas), to deploy a suite of drones to support the country's command, control, communication, and ISR efforts. *2019: Swift is delivering a pair of low-cost (90% reduction), low weight (50% reduction) telepresence robotic arm replacements to
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...
for their Valkyrie humanoid robotic assembly. *2019: Swift Engineering has been selected for the design and construction of Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) Airframe for
Sikorsky Sikorsky or Sikorski may refer to: * Sikorsky (comics), a Marvel Comics character * Sikorsky (crater), a lunar crater * Sikorsky Aircraft, an American aircraft manufacturer People with the surname * Brian Sikorski (born 1974), Major League Basebal ...
.


References


External links


Swift Engineering web site

JUSTIA

Road and Track road test of the Swift DB-1 Formula Ford

NASA

The Bridge

Forbes Japan
* * {{Authority control Formula Atlantic Sports car manufacturers Aircraft manufacturers of the United States Aerospace companies American racecar constructors Champ Car Aerospace companies of the United States Engineering companies of the United States Unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturers Defense companies of the United States American companies established in 1983