The vision of Swarmly is to be the number one supplier of low-cost and reliable VTOL solutions, stated Igor Rafalovsky, CTO of Swarmly. More specifically, the company’s key target is to serve customers in tactical environments, such as border and maritime protection, military, and security operations with custom solutions at an affordable price.
Swarmly is targeting the tactical vertical Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) market, with a focus on budget conscious countries with a need for effective working solutions available now in the UAS space.
Mr Rafalovsky has extensive work experience in the aerospace sector, including business and technology experience with UAS. Most of his career was spent with the US Department of Defence and his first company was based in Chicago and developed a control system for widely used military UAVs.
Most of the key people in Swarmly have military, merchant marines, and law enforcement backgrounds. The three founding members are from the US, Ukraine, and Cyprus, and includes a staff of 17 from US, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, and Cyprus, in addition to two electronics design consultants, based in Poland and the UK, specialising in the design of radio communications systems.
The company, Mr Rafalovsky stated, has two different ‘knowledge clusters’. One is that of aircraft/airframe design and the second of avionics design. Both clusters have backgrounds in combat UAV design and production, some of which were previously involved in the design of successful battlefield-proven UAVs.
Swarmly has developed airframes and overall designs for three different UAS models with different capabilities and uses in mind, taking roughly 1.5 years to design and fully develop. All three models are designed as monocoque high-wing airframes, with the H3 and H6 powered by an electronic fuel injection (EFI) 2-stroke gasoline motor with a pusher cruise propeller and four permanently mounted VTOL electric motors and propellers. The design has a significant advantage in flight safety, as the VTOL propulsion is used not only for take-off, landing, and hover, but also for in-flight emergency recovery in place of an emergency parachute. Outlined below are the three models with their end-use in mind.
H3 Poseidon VTOL UAS
A midrange hybrid gasoline/electric UAS that combines a compact size with extended endurance. H3 is specifically designed to deliver missions over open seas or coastal areas from onboard a marine vessel or an onshore mobile base.
The high landing gear of the model allows for the attachment of emergency flotation aids to assist recovery in case of emergency water landing.
H6 Poseidon VTOL UAS
H6 Poseidon is Swarmly’s largest UAS with hybrid gasoline/electric propulsion. It’s specifically designed to deliver long endurance missions requiring heavy lift over land and sea.
The high landing gear of H6 allows for the attachment of emergency flotation aids to assist recovery in case of emergency water landing.
H10 Poseidon VTOL UAS
H10 Poseidon is a midrange electric UAS that provides portability and covert operations capabilities. H10 can be transported in an SUV or a pickup truck and prepared for operations in less than 10 minutes.
H10 is designed to operate in GNSS (Global navigation satellite system)-denied environments, and unlike H3 and H6, it’s powered by an electric motor, resulting in a very low acoustic signature in cruise flight. Furthermore, it has an extremely small radar cross-section, and no detectable thermal signature, which makes it a perfect tool for covert operations.
