Our company S&K Innovative Technologies, LLC, is developing a new quadcopter drone to help military, law enforcement, and fire departments gain a tactical advantage and de-escalate dangerous situations with a drone that has air and ground operation capabilities and numerous payload capabilities like 4k and thermal camera, flashlight, 2 way communication, and deployable flashbang and gas grenades. We compete in the commercial drone market, which was a 20.8 billion dollar global market in 2020 and is projected to reach 79 billion by 2025. We are similar to Teal Drones and Brinc drones but we have the ability to operate as a flying drone or a driving drone within the same system and have the ability to deploy multiple payloads from the bottom of our drone. Currently we have formed a company, received grant money, completed our proof of concept prototype, and partnered with 6 different companies to bring our product to life when we receive investment.
Problem:
Last year in 2020 we saw altercations between law enforcement and the public turn deadly. Officers around the country find themselves in these intense situations everyday. Law enforcement agencies need new methods and technologies to help de-escalate these dangerous situations. In response to these events the Department of Justice has put out a 1 billion dollar grant to law enforcement agencies to develop better tactics and techniques as well as acquire new technologies to combat this problem and improve officer and public safety. When officers enter a confined space like a house it is the most dangerous situation that they face on the job. They do not know where that suspect is, if they are armed, or if there are other civilians in the house that could be hurt. The Commander of Ouachita Parish Sheriff Office SWAT said quote “anything that you can put between a suspect and an officer is great and needed.”
Our problem definition comes from law enforcement uses of drones. Law enforcement searches for any tactical advantage that they can get in any situation. Currently, law enforcement agencies are stepping into using drones on a more regular basis. They use both air and ground drones to achieve the tactical advantages that they want, but the two solutions do fall short. Flying a drone in a small indoor place can create quite a challenge where one wrong move can completely wipe out the use of the drone. Ground drones are great for tight areas, but they cannot look on top of things like tables, couches, and other obstacles. They also can be stopped due to obstacles such as stairs. The Peryton Drone will combat all of these problems at once. It can convert to a ground drone so that it can go into tight areas without the worry of crashing and losing the advantage of the drone. It can also convert into a flying drone so that it can see on top of objects or avoid obstacles, or act as a normal quadcopter drone. This will give law enforcement agencies an advantage in many different situations.
Value Prop:
S&K Innovative Technologies used innovative design and engineering to enhance officer and the public's safety by giving law enforcement a tactical advantage in a variety of different mission sets with the Peryton Drone. The Peryton Drone is a new and innovative drone that puts itself in a completely new class of drones. The peryton has the ability of flying like any quadcopter but at the push of a button can turn into a Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV). This allow the peryton drone to operate in the open air environments and then seamlessly transition to ground mode for superior navigation in tight and enclosed environments (houses, wooded areas, warehouses, etc,) and provides the drone with the ability to move stealthily through a location without the loud sound of the propellers. In addition to the two different flight modes the Peryton will be the first in its class of air drones to deliver less lethal payloads like flashbangs and gas grenades. A lethal option will be available for military purposes.
Picture this scenario: SWAT is called out in pursuit of an escaped suspect. The pilot launches the Peryton in the air taking advantage of the drone’s 2 onboard cameras alternating from 4k to thermal imaging. They spot the suspect entering a house. SWAT breaks a window and flies the Peryton in; where at the press of a button it switches to ground driving mode to stealthily move through the house. As the drone makes its way through the house it encounters a mother and her two young children. With the Peryton’s on board two way comms system officers are able to instruct them to exit the house out the front door to safety. The Peryton continues to clear the house and finds the suspect armed and waiting. They officers again attempt to de-escalate the situation through the 2 way comms. The suspect is non compliant and threatens to shoot the Peryton. The drone arms and deploys its remote detonated flash bang; disorienting the suspect as officers make the arrest without ever having to put a human body in harm’s way. This is the mission of the Peryton drone.
Customer segments and product models:
These are our 4 different customer segments with law enforcement and fire being the main civilian market as well as private security companies being a potential customer. The peryton drone will also be able to fill a variety of different tasks within the Department of Defense ( Reconnaissance, payload delivery, base security, IED inspection, and more)
The Peryton Drone was designed to be completely modular so that different departments or different units within a department could build their drone to fit their price range and their unit’s specific use cases.
Law enforcement, fire departments, private security firms, and inspection companies will have three different set models to choose from but will be able to make minor additions to the payload options to fit their needs.
Base Model: Retail Price $10,000. Specifications: Peryton drone with patented air to ground transition system, dual 4k and thermal imaging camera, 3rd party live feed, Fly More Package (2 extra batteries, extra propellers, fast charger, Pelican case).
Patrol Model: Retail Price $12,500. Specifications: Peryton Drone with patented air to ground transition system, dual 4k and thermal imaging camera, 3rd party live feed, integrated floodlight, 2-way communication system, Fly More Package.
SWAT Model: Retail Price $15,000. Specifications: Peryton Drone with patented air to ground transition system, dual 4k and thermal imaging camera, 3rd party live feed, integrated floodlight, 2-way communication system, Payload Delivery System, Fly More Package.
Warranty: All parts on the Peryton Drone that malfunction or are not broken due to user error will be replaced by S&K Innovative Technologies with the only exception being the camera. If a camera is damaged beyond repair another camera will be sold at cost.
Department of Defense models will have the same options as the civilian market with, a much higher level of encryption, possibly a different controller, and potentially lethal payloads.
Examples of private security companies that we will be targeting will include but are not limited to ACADEMI, Brosnan, and SOC.
Traction:
We are currently partnered 5 different law enforcement agencies and fire departments from Louisiana, Ohio, and Texas to help develop our drone to their specifications and needs. As soon as we have a fully operational prototype we will be putting it in their hands to test and train with.
We have acquired 6 key partners to assist us in bringing the Peryton Drone to life.
Teledyne FLIR: 640x512 high resolution thermal and 4k live stream camera
Packet Digital: custom smart battery and smart charger
Botlink: 2-way communication system and flashlight
Electrocraft: custom co-axial dual motor system
Precision Procurement Solutions: Department of Defense consulting company that will assist in STTR and SBIR contract procurement
Liberty Dynamic: remote detonated flash bangs and CS gas grenades
Louisiana Tech University: research, consulting, and research
Secure testing facility will be used to test in private with local police officers standing guard at entrances if deemed necessary.
Target market ranges from $165 million to $537 million.
There are 30,000 law enforcement agencies and fire departments in the US on the federal, state, and local level.
We then used two metrics to narrow our target market down to just 13,440 departments across the nation. The first metric was department size based off of sworn officers. Departments need a dedicated drone team/pilot to conduct drone operations so we used departments with over 50 sworn officers. Over 50 sworn officers gives departments plenty of manpower to have a dedicated drone unit. The second metric was number of residents that law enforcement agencies and fire departments served. We took cities with populations of over 50,000 residents and 80% of cities with 25,000-50,000 residents. According to the PBS.org/independentlens 80% of cities with populations between 25k and 50k have a SWAT team, which is our ideal customer. Seeing that police departments are funded from tax revenue, a resident population using these metrics would be able to fund the departments drone purchases. Note: The Peryton drone does fall under $600 million of the Department of Justice’s “Community Policing Development Grant”.
The range of $165 million - 537 million is due to Law enforcement and fire departments that we interviewed during market research had a minimum of 3 drones each with the Louisiana state police having as many as 28 drones right now.
Marketing and sales:
S&K will start off with direct sales by selling the drone to the departments and states that we are already working with to figure out the best way to sell the drone. After that we will hire a few salesmen to increase our sales and outreach. We will first sell to the state level since they will have the most funds and have their own drone training programs for the drones that they are running right now. That makes it easier for S&K as we do not have to hire as many people to train once the sale is made. After the state adopts our technology it should be easier for the smaller departments to come on board and get funding to purchase our drones. When we are selling we will demo the drone so that departments and politicians can see first hand its capabilities and its value. Then we will talk about how there departments acquisition process works and the salesman will work with them through that process to make the sale. The Same process will be done for fire departments. Often times we will have the opportunity to sale to multiple departments by inviting them to our demos for other departments. Marketing will be done mostly trade shows, licensing other companies to sell our products, and cold calling departments to see if they would be open to seeing a demo of our product.
Cade Spikes: Co-founder and CEO
Degree in Business Management with an Entrepreneurial focus from Louisiana Tech University
Work experience:
VP of Operations for B4 Health Management; Cleveland, OH
Part 107 Drone pilot for Messinger & Associates PLS; Bastrop, LA
4 years as an USMC rifleman/ Infantry Squad Leader
Sales rep for Green Power Dallas, TX
Eagle Scout
Chairman of Louisiana Tech University’s Student Veteran Organization
Daniel Kumler: Co-founder and Chief Engineer
Cyber Engineering and Electrical Engineering
Work experience:
Node.js developer at KTM Solutions Greenville, SC
Server developer at NeuroNEM of Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, LA
Vice President of Upsilon Pi Epsilon, computer science honor society
Eagle Scout
Programming: Spice, Angular, Java, C, C++, C#, Matlab, Python, Verilog, HDL, and VHDL
S&K has videos for interested investors at request