Sofcoast

Thoughtstream: Founder's Summary and Vision

Vision

Over the past four years I've been working to describe the vision I have for Sofcoast and our technologies.  I continue to refine how I describe this vision. 

In summary, Sofcoast's goal is to position ourselves at the crossroads of Unmanned Aviation and Mobile Computing and deliver compelling products to federal and commercial customers by leveragng our innovations in material science and applied research to eliminate barriers that exist in how people connect and share information with each other.

Below is a sketch I've drawn that outlines this vision.

 

Recap

2011 was a year for us to further our developmental efforts and to develop key early customer relatonships.  We are happy with our work and our developmental systems as we continue to mature our prototypes and our thinking.  I think the team shares in my sentiment that it's been a remarkably envigorating and enjoyable process to be a part of advancing and maturing our designs, concepts, methods and systems and to see the proverbial "lightbulb" turn on for people as they "get it". 

What's Next

We're not satisfied with people simply understanding our concepts, methods, systems or approaches.  We are focused on shattering barriers and assumptions and fundamentally changing the way people think and act. 

This is a bold vision and won't happen over night. 

We look forward to 2012 as the year where we transition from handbuilding and delivering mature prototypes to manufacturing and delivering perfected products.  This is a tremendous accomplishment for all of us to look forward to and what this means is that we are tracking to achieve some key developmental milestones: from continued packaging improvements, delivering expanded all weather flight performance, integrating scalability and modularity as design features as well as compelling ease of use features.

We're also excited about 2012 being the year when we begin to unveil ground breaking payload technologies. 

All in all, 2012 is shaping up to be another great year for us in the growth and evolution of Sofcoast and the maturity of our ASAP XP family of Hybrid Air Systems.

We appreciate your support and look forward to sharing more about Sofcoast in the coming weeks.

Cheers and Merry Christmas,

John

 

Signals & Drumbeats: Army Wants Hand-Launched Blimps

Sofcoast has been busy, and 2012 is going to get busier.

Good stuff.

Publication:  Aviation Week
Author:  Paul McLeary

Big Army wants to go small. In keeping with its push to equip infantry squads with the communications and intelligence-gathering gear necessary to act (somewhat) autonomously, the U.S. Army’s Rapid Equipping Force (REF) has issued a Request for Information looking for industry input for the development of a small aerostat that can be controlled by a hand held controller, and be launched and recovered in 20 minutes or less.

Since the request comes from the Rapid Equipping Force, not only does the Army want industry to ping them back right away, but they’re also looking for mature, non-developmental technologies. The RFI calls for a commercial off the shelf, or government off the shelf “modular compact helium filled aerostat and payload deployment system” that will give “small tactical units…an Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance capability.”

The request also states that the Army is only interested in models that can fly (or float…) in any type of weather, during the day or night, and be able to stay airborne for a period of at least four days. And then there are the specifics. The system must weigh no more than 130 lbs., clock in at no more than 40 ft. long, 20 ft. tall, and 16 ft. in diameter, and weigh less than 2,500 lbs., including the deployment system. In keeping with the push for giving squad-sized units new intelligence gathering ability, the request says that the system should require “no more than 2-3 personnel at any time to perform any and all functions,” and the entire system, including the helium bottles, etc. must be transportable on one vehicle or trailer.

We know that the Army has deployed dozens of huge blimps to Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade—and all of the big contractors have been fighting over the hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to build, launch and maintain them. What about these relatively small blimps? They might not be as eye-popping as their older cousins, but they’ll certainly be cheaper and more numerous….and isn’t that what the new Army equipping strategy is all about?