SBIR/STTR Research Award

SHELLE - Swift Heavy Lift Long Endurance UAV

Award identifier 8c94be95b8759aca16be05c2d15a798ba96a940f2335ade50554851047cd96e3Awarding agency Department of Defense · Special Operations Command

Award amount

$1,622,519

Program and phase

SBIR · Phase II

Award year

2018

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Award details

Awarding agency
Department of Defense
Branch
Special Operations Command
Recipient company
SWIFT ENGINEERING INC.
Proposal award date
2018-09-27
Contract end date
2019-07-26
UEI
GYHCJ83A16M5
Solicitation number
2017.2
Topic code
SOCOM172-004

Research abstract

SHELLE brings a paradigm shifting level of performance to the US military for electric field deployable UAS in range, endurance and payload capability. It bridges the capability gap between existing hand launchable electric UAS and larger liquid fueled UAS. The SHELLE V1 even outperforms many liquid fuel aircraft and can match the payload of aircraft twice its weight at a fraction of the cost. Compared to current electric UAVs, SHELLE V1 can remain airborne 7.5 hours vs 3 hours with the same payload. With 3-hour endurance, SHELLE V1s payload capacity is 9lbs, nearly 5 times the payload of the current hand-launchable competition. The long endurance ISR capability equates to a combat radius of over 150 miles allowing greater standoff distances for surveillance missions into hostile regions while keeping operators safe. Additionally, SHELLE combined with the precision delivery glider enables delivery of up to 10lbs from a hand launchable platform. Commercially, SHELLE will have profound benefits for search and rescue, law enforcement ISR, border security, and aerial surveys in a variety of industries such as agriculture and oil and gas.

Technology keywords

Not reported

Other awards by this recipient

Verified by the same UEI. These are other public SBIR/STTR award pages, not a merged company record.

Awards with the same topic code

Verified by an exact topic code match. This is not a text-similarity match.

Research funding history

17 SBIR/STTR records share this UEI (2005–2025). Reported award amounts total $5,873,082. Reported amounts are not federal obligations.

Phases: Phase I, Phase II

Agencies: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Department of Defense, Department of Commerce

Agency intelligence

Department of Defense

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